


Smother

by raleighsbecket



Category: Jurassic World (2015)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bonding, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Family, Mother-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-04-25 01:38:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4941706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raleighsbecket/pseuds/raleighsbecket
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She was only sixteen. That was too young to have a child. But Karen, she was twenty one. She was twenty one and had a boyfriend with a stable job. <em>Karen</em> was old enough to look after a child. So, with a heavy heart, Claire gave up the only child she would ever have.</p><p>But now, sixteen years later, Claire is face to face with her past and is slowly finding out that the truth has ways of coming out, no matter how hard she tries to keep it at bay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This could be seen as a prompt fill for [Prompt 73](http://jurassicworldprompts.tumblr.com/post/125537215350/claire-sighed-eyes-closed-i-was-young-owen-i) on Jurassicworldprompts. It's not exactly true to that but I saw it on the blog and the idea stayed with me until I decided to write this. 
> 
> There's going to be two works in this series, one detailing the events of the movie and one dealing with the aftermath. I hope you enjoy/look forward to both. 
> 
> Companion fanmix [here](https://8tracks.com/hemmoism/smother)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Claire refuses to let her past define her and Zach notices some things about himself.

“ _Why don't you let the boys visit you?”_

Karen's words kept ringing in Claire's ears. They'd spoken on the phone over an hour ago and Claire had yet to let the simple phrase leave her mind. Why didn't she let the boys visit her? There was many reasons. Her go to one was that she was too busy to look after her nephews, she had a park to run, visitors to look after and dinosaurs to keep track of. She couldn't handle two more problems onto that list – when in actual fact it was only _one_ more problem; Gray was a good kid. She was perfectly fine with them staying in Wisconsin and never being in close proximity to her.

Besides, she knew exactly why Karen was so determined to get her to allow the boys to visit. It was blatantly obvious, like a beacon in the middle of the night, but even with that determination, Claire was deathly opposed to Zach and Gray visiting her. She would not allow it to happen, not now.

“ _He's sixteen, Claire, he deserves to know.”_ Karen had said over the phone. The persistence in her voice reminded Claire of their mother. And Claire was exasperated over it. So what if he was sixteen? So what if he deserved to know? They'd survived with this secret for sixteen years and Claire would go to her grave with it. There was no need to let Zach know now. She knew that Karen would never tell him without her permission - a blessing in disguise, really – so she was free to keep the secret of Zach's true parentage a secret.

 _Maybe_ she'd tell him. One day, when she was on her deathbed and he was too mature to hate her for it. Though, part of her knew no matter how old he got, he would always hate her for giving him away the way she had. But it wasn't her fault. She, herself, had only been sixteen when she had fallen pregnant with him, it'd been an accident. An abortion could have been an option but Karen - wonderful Karen - who always saved Claire's life, stepped in and agreed to take the child. She was old enough to have one and she and Scott were looking to start a family anyway. It had been the perfect ruse.

And it was also the reason Claire had grown estranged with that part of her family. If she got too close, she would get attached and she was Claire Dearing, she didn't get attached. She watched Zach grow up through pictures and anecdotes told by Scott and Karen. She rarely visited, only once every few years, and she was fine with that. Scott and Karen were fine with that – more so Scott, who believed that she would have been an unfit mother and didn't deserve to see Zach grow up and Claire agreed with him.

“Claire?”

Claire looked up from her computer screen to see Zara, her personal assistant, standing in the door way. “Yes?”

“Mr Masrani left a message to tell you that he's coming over in the next few weeks.” she said.

“To see the asset?” Claire asked but it was more of a statement. She knew why Simon would be coming over. They'd been working on the new dinosaur for a while now. But Claire's mind was still on her nephews, on the son she'd given up and she knew Zara could tell she was preoccupied.

“Exactly.” Zara said before she hesitated. “I think it's a good idea for you to let your family visit.”

Claire looked up at Zara, not in shock, but in surprise. There didn't seem to be any secrets on this island between the employees. Her disastrous date with Owen Grady spread like wild fire and Claire knew if her biggest secret got out, the world would look at her differently. She wouldn't be Claire Dearing, director of Jurassic World, she would be Claire Dearing, the teenage mother.

“Don't you have work to do?” Claire questioned.

Zara shrugged but bore a smirk. “It won't be too bad. Invite them over during the first week of June.”

The first week of June was the busiest time for the park. People were bringing their children here because of Summer vacation and thus, Claire would have her hands full with dealing with the influx of guests. That meant, she wouldn't be able to be around her nephews all day everyday. It also meant that she would get Karen off her case. She would give her the false promise of bonding with them but wouldn't actually go through it. Zach and Gray would be too engrossed with the island and dinosaurs to actually bother telling Karen the truth until they got home and by then, it'd be too late for Karen to do anything but call her and reprimand her.

It was perfect.

“Thank you, Zara.” Claire said, her gratitude bearing a heavier meaning than her assistant probably knew of.

With a nod, Zara left her office, the door swishing shut with a soft click. Claire took a deep breath and reached for her phone, only to find that it was buzzing against the table. A picture of the Mitchell family lit up her screen and Claire stared, a little too long, at the boy in the middle of said picture.

Her son. No. Her _sister's_ son. He was her nephew.

Realising she was leaving the phone to ring for too long, Claire picked it up and answered the call, pressing the phone to her ear.

“Karen?” she asked. “You just got off the phone to me. Why are you calling again?”

“You know why.” Karen sounded tired, which made sense. It would have been late where she was. “I really think you should let the boys -”

“Say no more.” Claire said. “I gave your suggestion a thorough thinking over and have decided to let the boys visit after all. What could go wrong?”

“Finally.” Karen breathed out a sigh of relief. “I thought I was going to have to pester you some more.”

Claire forced a laugh. “No. I relented. You and Scott need some alone time together.”

Karen and Scott's marital problems were no secret between the two sisters. Seeing what was happening between them only made Claire happy about her decision not to marry unless she was certain he wouldn't abandon her after fifteen years the way Scott was planning to. She never did like Scott. Maybe it was because he was so domineering or maybe it was because of the way he boasted about his son when he was in fact Claire's.

“Yeah,” Karen paused. “You know that's not the reason I want the boys to visit you. Well, it's the reason I want Gray to visit you, besides his affinity for dinosaurs.”

Claire bit her bottom lip. She was dreading this part of their conversation. “You know what, I just remember I have a meeting with some of the scientists. Zara must have forgotten too, other wise she would have -”

“Claire.” Karen cut her off, using her stern mother voice. “Don't try to evade this. You can't avoid it for your entire life.”

_I can try._

“I know.” Claire sighed. “But I don't think it'll be a good idea to tell him right now. Not when he's dealing with... whatever teenage boys deal with these days. As far as he's concerned, he's my nephew.”

The line went silent as Karen processed what Claire had told her. For a moment, Claire believed Karen had hung up, annoyed by what she had said, before Karen spoke again.

“We can't keep this a secret forever.” Karen said.

“We'll tell him. One day.” Claire said. It was an empty promise, at most.

Karen sighed, fed up with Claire putting it off. “Fine. We'll talk more later.”

“About details of the trip?” Claire asked, quickly steering away from the topic of family. Sorta.

“Sure.” Karen said. “I should go now. It's late and I need to break the news to the boys. Gray's going to be so excited.”

Claire could only imagine the excitement that her youngest nephew would exhibit. “Good luck with that. Call me tomorrow. See ya.”

Without waiting for another word from Karen, Claire hung up and set her phone on her desk. She let out a soft sigh, brushing her hands through her already immaculate hair to smooth it down even more. She could handle them being here for a week. June was just under a month away. It would work out fine.

 

✘

 

As it turns out, not everything _could_ work out fine. In the month leading to June, Claire was bombarded with work and calls from Karen and Gray. Claire noted that, through all the calls she got from the Mitchell's, she never once received one from Zach. Not that that was a problem, she'd have rather they kept their distance from each other, it would make everything easier.

While having a five minute break – even people like her needed a break – she realised she only had a little over a week before her nephews arrive and that was not enough time. She was also booked up for meetings for the next four weeks which was not only a blessing in disguise but a burden. Glancing to her office door, she calculated she only had three and a half minutes left before she had to get back on her feet. That was fine. She could compose herself in those three and a half minutes.

Picking out her phone from her coat pocket, she inspected the time and slowly found herself going into her contacts, scrolling down to the very bottom and leaving her index finger hovering above the contact that read _Zach Mitchell._ What would her excuse for calling be? She wanted to know if he and Gray were excited for coming over? No, he'd tell her she could have just called his mother. Hell, he probably wouldn't even answer her. And if he did, Karen would get her hopes up and Claire already felt bad for planning on doing that in the future. Huffing, she put her phone back into her coat pocket and stood up.

So much for three and a half minutes.

As she got up, the office door opened and Zara entered, carrying with her a box and a folder. Claire looked between the items and instantly knew what each of them were.

“Dr Wu sent this over.” She handed the file over to Claire. “It's details on the new asset.”

One of the perks of being the personal assistant of the park director was getting inside scoop like this. Of course, Zara couldn't tell anyone else about these things or she would lose her job. No one would be _that_ stupid.

“And this,” she held out the box. “is the VIP passes you requested.”

Claire set the folder down on her desk and took the box, opening it and inspecting the blue bands. She ran her fingers over them slowly and wondered if he'd been her son from the start, if Zach would have permanently worn one of these. She could only imagine the faces the other guests would have worn had they seen him wandering around the park, doing as he pleased. It almost brought a smile to her face but then she remembered where she was and what was happening.

“What's wrong?” Zara asked.

“Huh?” Claire slammed the box shut and looked up at her assistant.

“You look like you're thinking about something.” Zara said, standing with one hand on her hip. “Something... _interesting_.”

Claire shook her head. “No, it's nothing.”

She turned her back to Zara and set the box on her desk. She would have it moved to their room nearer the time of their arrival. For now, they could have a home on her desk. Casting a glance over her shoulder, she saw Zara still in the office and quickly turned to face her.

“I need to ask something very important of you.” Claire said,

Zara smirked. “When do you _not_?”

It was true. What Claire couldn't do, she would pass down to Zara. She was her second in command. Her beta, almost.

She nodded, putting on a somewhat fake smile. “In a little over a week, my _nephews_ will be coming to visit the park for a week. Would it be too much of me to ask you to watch over them?”

Zara raised an eyebrow, presumably interested in the strain Claire had put on the word nephews. “And what age are these nephews?”

“Young.” Claire skirted around the real answer. “They won't bother you much. Gray is... he loves dinosaurs and their mother will probably have his older brother look after him. It's more of a... _watching from afar_ job.”

“I suppose it won't kill me to watch them for one day.” Zara said with a shrug. “But one day is all I'm doing.”

Claire nodded. She could find a way to avoid them for the following six days, it wouldn't be too hard. “You're a life saver, Zara.”

Zara shrugged. “Say that to my raise.”

Claire chuckled, softly. “We'll see.”

Zara gave her one last smirk before she turned and left the room. Checking her watch, Claire saw she had half a minute before she had to go off to her next meeting. Looking back at the box, she sighed and moved it into the top drawer of her desk. She didn't need it to burden her mind, not when she had some potential sponsor to coerce into giving the park money for one of their many attractions. She had a job to do and she wasn't about to let some long forgotten family secret hinder that.

She was Claire Dearing, director of Jurassic World, not Claire Dearing, the teenage mother.

 

✘

 

When Zach's mother first told him he would be going to visit his Aunt Claire at Jurassic World, his immediate response was _no way_ . Gray was the dinosaur enthusiast, not him. If anything, it made more sense for Karen to accompany Gray to Jurassic World and visit her sister instead of him going to visit his aunt, who can't even send a birthday card. Granted, she sent more birthday cards to Gray which is more important to Zach than getting them himself. Who has the heart to explain to an eight year old why they didn't get a birthday card from their favourite aunt?

(To answer that question, it would be Scott, their father, who had proudly told the eight year old Zach why he didn't get a card from his Aunt Claire – she didn't care about him.)

His dislike towards Claire stemmed from that moment onward and it only grew with the passing years. Neither he nor his parents understood his weird hate for her but neither of them made the first, important, steps into that journey of discovery. In fact, there was a lot of discovering he had yet to do involving himself and his family but, like a typical teenager, he'd put it off for as long as he could. Which meant he didn't want to come face to face with his estranged aunt.

“Zach?”

Pulling out one earbud, Zach shuffled into a sitting position and had to resist the urge to roll his eyes when he saw Gray peeking around his half open door open. He knew why Gray was here. Ever since their mother had mentioned their trip to Jurassic World, Gray had been a constant thorn in Zach's side. He wanted Zach to go just as much as Zach did _not_ want to go.

“What?” he huffed.

“I was just watching a documentary about -”

“Let me guess,” Zach cut him off. “Dinosaurs?”

Gray nodded, bearing a wide grin. “They're _really_ fascinating and I'd _really_ like to see them in person.”

Groaning, Zach rolled over onto his side, pulling his phone up to his face. He could still feel Gray's presence in the room. It bore down on his back the same way the sun would.

“Get mum to go with you.” he said.

Gray let out a frustrated sigh. “I'd _really_ like to see the dinosaurs with my _favourite_ big brother.”

“You only have _one_ big brother.” Zach said. “I'm your favourite by default.”

Gray shrugged. “C'mon Zach, I barely ask you to do anything for me _and_ we'll get to see Aunt Claire again.”

Zach shifted his gaze from his phone to the wall in front of him. He didn't want to see their Aunt Claire. No. That was a lie, he _did_. He wanted to see her and confront her for the years she spent AWOL, he wanted to challenge her and get to the bottom of her inability to even text them – with exception of their mother, of course.

“Why do you want to see Aunt Claire?” Zach asked.

“Last time she was here, I was five. I barely remember her.” Gray explained. “And _you_ have memories of her, I want memories too.”

“Why can't you make memories with mum?” Zach asked.

“Cause mum isn't you!”

By the sound of Gray's voice Zach knew he was getting agitated, as did everyone with Zach's attitude lately. He couldn't exactly help it. With the combination of school, a girlfriend, puberty and a pain in the ass of a younger brother, he was bond to have his nerves fried. He couldn't remember the last time he'd actually slept a full nights sleep, either.

Maybe going to Jurassic World would be a great escape from all of that. _Maybe_.

“Zach, _please_.”

Dropping his phone onto his bed, Zach sat up and looked at Gray. “What's so special about this place anyway?”

Gray's face lit up immediately and he began to describe everything they had at the park, from the exhibits, the types of dinosaur there was and the attractions they had. Zach blocked him out as soon as he began his excited rambling. The truth was, he knew exactly what was so special about Jurassic World. It was a theme park based on dinosaurs -  _Dinosaurs._ That type of thing had only been a pipe dream years ago and now? Now, he was being forced to go for free and here he was, complaining about it.

But he was Zach Mitchell, the King of complaining.

“Okay, okay, enough.” Zach rolled his eyes.

“But I didn't tell you about the ankylosaurus or the velociraptors.” Gray pouted.

“I've heard enough.” Zach said. “When did mum say we were to go?”

“She said it would be the first week in June, Aunt Claire said that – Wait.” Gray stopped, processing what he'd just heard. “Does that mean you are going to go?!”

Zach stared at Gray for a moment. “Sure.”

“Oh my god! Thank you!” Gray jumped at Zach, wrapping his arms tightly around his neck.

Zach only grimaced, awkwardly patting Gray on the back before he pushed his brother off of him. “Yeah, whatever. Are you going to tell mum now?”

“Yes!”

Gray bolted from the room then and Zach could hear his footsteps thunder downstairs. Sighing, he picked up his phone, glancing at the screen. He had a few messages, all from his friends and girlfriend but he didn't care about answering them right now. He went to his contacts and scrolled through until he found the number he was looking for. Why would he want to call her? It would only seem weird and no doubt Claire would tell his mother that he'd called and that would only lead to more questions.

Sighing, he put his phone into his pocket and listened carefully to whatever was being said between his brother and mother. Gray was way too happy for him agreeing to go with him but Zach supposed he could see where Gray's excitement came from. They barely spent time with each other now – which was understandable, Zach was sixteen, he didn't want to be seen with his dork of a brother – and this would be Gray's one chance to have Zach's undivided attention for an entire week. In Gray's point of view, it would be the greatest thing ever but in Zach's, it was the worst.

From the corner of his eyes, Zach saw a blur of colour pass by his room door as Gray ran back to his room, probably to tell his other dinosaur obsessed friends about the trip and not long after, there was a light knock on his door before his mother entered. She was all soft smiles and probably even softer words. If there was one thing Zach noticed about his parents it was how different they were. His mother was like the good cop and his dad the bad one. In saying that, Zach loved his parents but something about them just seemed... off.

“Hey.” Karen said. “I'm glad you finally relented and agreed to go.”

“Whatever.” Zach muttered.

“It's going to make your brother really happy.”

Zach felt the bed dip as Karen sat down. “I know.”

“ _And_ you get to see your Aunt Claire again, isn't that going to be fun?” Karen asked.

Zach tucked an arm under his head and fixed his mother with bored eyes. “Really?”

“I hear she's looking forward to seeing _you_ again.” Karen said, looking away.

Zach narrowed his eyes at her. Why did she say it like that? Why did she look away? That didn't make sense. He continued to look at his mother and did what no other kid would. He studied her face, what she looked like and mentally compared it to himself. He didn't look like his mother.

“If she was looking forward to seeing me again, she would at least call and tell me herself.” Zach said.

Karen sighed, gently putting a hand on Zach's leg. “I can't wait until you grow out of this rebellious phase.”

Zach just nodded and watched as she got up and headed to the room door, stopping where she was.

“Start packing. Or, at least, make a list.” she said.

Zach rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”

“Well, don't blame me if you forget something.” Karen shrugged and then finally left him alone.

Getting up, Zach followed her out of the room but instead of going downstairs, he passed Gray's room and headed into the bathroom. There was no need for him to be in there but something had been bugging him ever since the thought had come into his head. He shut the bathroom door, locking it behind him, and turned to face the mirror above the sink. Nothing about him resembled his mother. She was all red hair and blues eyes while he was dark. Dark eyes, dark hair. He couldn't even pin point a resemblance to his father.

His fingers brushed across his cheek as he tried to find something about him that matched his family but nothing did. Maybe it was his adolescent mind playing tricks on him or maybe... or maybe there was something more to this off feeling he'd been having lately. But how would he tell his family, who he hoped loved him, that he didn't feel like he belonged to them? It wasn't as severe as it sounded, he still felt like he was part of the family but like he was an extension of it.

Like his Aunt Claire.

Frowning, he pulled out his phone and looked through it until he found the most recent picture of his aunt that he had – god damn her for not having a Facebook or Twitter like, _y'know_ , a normal human being – and then looked at it before switching his gaze back to the mirror. He looked like her. Sure, there was a few details missing, such as her having the Dearing family's red hair and light eyes but it was there, staring him blatantly in the face. He looked more like his Aunt Claire than he did any other person in his family.

And _that_ wasn't weird at all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Zach and Claire finally come face to face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know some things in the first few chapters might seem a bit choppy but it was an artistic choice of mine not to write out every single scene in the movie, especially since some of the scenes contain neither of the two "main characters" of this fic in them. As we get further into the movie plot line in the fic, the chapters will become less choppy.

"Have you gotten everything packed?" Karen asked.

Zach huffed out a breath. This was the third time in the past week that his mother had asked him that. They were only going to be gone for a week, there wasn't that much to pack. As long as he had his phone, it's charger and clean underwear he'd be fine. He got that kind of mindset from his father – it was the  _only_  thing he'd gotten from his father.

"Yes." Zach groaned. "You've asked me that like five times in the past twenty minutes, why don't you go ask Gray?"

"You know Gray." Karen said. "He was packed the day I told you boys about the trip."

Zach rolled his eyes. Of course Gray was well prepared. "Right. I'm gonna go take this down to the car."

Zipping up his bag, he grabbed it and slung it over his shoulder, heading for the room door, only for Karen to grab his arm, his fingers wrapping tightly around his wrist. Zach, confused by the gesture, turned to face his mother.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I love you." Karen said. "And you are  _my_  son, okay?"

Zach narrowed his eyes at her. Why was she saying this to him? That didn't make sense. "Okay."

"No matter what, you'll always be my son." Karen reached up and brushed some hair form his eyes.

"Mum, are you okay?" Zach asked.

"I'm just gonna miss you boys, that's all." Karen sighed. "It's going to be one hell of a week without you two around."

"We'll be fine." Zach said. "We'll have Aunt Claire, right?"

Despite them being his own words, Zach knew they were untrue. They wouldn't have their Aunt Claire, if the past few years had anything to show him. Karen knew this too but neither of them were going to bring that up, not when they had to leave for the airport soon, not when Gray was yet to get into the car and Zach had to say goodbye to his girlfriend. There was too much to say and do and not enough time for it all.

"Of course." Karen pulled her hands away from her son. "I'm sure your Aunt Claire will have a lot to say to you."

"I'm sure she will. I'm gonna go out to the car now."

Picking up his bag again, Zach left the room and headed out into the snow. If there was any bright side to this trip, it would be getting away from the snow for a week. Isla Nublar was going to be hot,  _very_ hot, and that was about the only perk Zach could see for now.

Going out to the car, he threw his bag in the trunk along with Gray's before he looked over to the road. He saw his girlfriend, Kelly, hurrying across. He met her halfway, giving her what he hoped looked like a genuine smile. He couldn't be bothered with this, he had a car ride plus a plane trip to sit through and this was the last thing he needed.

"Zach!" she smiled. "I'm so glad I caught you before you left."

"I told you when we were leaving." Zach said. He came off a bit more harsh than he intended but it was early. And cold.

"I know." she sighed, reaching out and placing her hands gently on his arms. "I'm going to miss you."

"Yeah, me too." he said, licking his lips. He was trying to make this quick.

"I hope you'll have fun there." Kelly said. "It seems like it would be a great place to go to."

Zach wasn't sure what he would prefer. Jurassic World with Kelly or Jurassic World with Gray. The latter did seem better, in his mind.

"I'll tell you all about it when I get back home." Zach said. It was an empty promise, at best.

Kelly nodded as Gray and Karen passed by them, heading over to the car. "Call me everyday and text me pics so I don't forget what you look like."

Zach's brow furrowed at this. She was acting as if he was going to be gone for much longer than a week. "I'm only going to be gone for a week..."

"Zach!" His father called out, saving him from further melodrama from Kelly. "You're not going off to war here, c'mon."

"I'll see you later."

"I love you."

They spoke at the same time but Zach refused to register what she had said. Again, it was only more melodrama. Throwing a quick  _bye_  in her direction, Zach took off in the direction of the car and got in, putting his seatbelt on only to see his parents staring at him. While they teased him, he studied their faces. He'd almost completely forgotten about the off feeling he'd been having until he'd seen another picture of his Aunt Claire. It reminded him of the fact that he was almost a complete stranger to the other three Mitchell family members. Shaking his head, his exasperation being played off as a reaction to their teasing before he slipped his headphones on, blocking out the world around him.

He tried not to think about it as they drove to the airport but now that it had entered his mind, it wouldn't leave him alone. Why did he not look like his parents while Gray did? Why did he look like his Aunt Claire? Maybe it could all be put down to his mother and aunt being from the same family but that wouldn't explain the off feeling he had. Maybe it was just his body and mind adapting to growing up. Didn't all teenagers have feelings like these?

Glancing to Gray, he could see his mouth moving as he told their parents about whatever he had on his mind – most likely what they were going to do at Jurassic World – and he wondered if Gray would feel like this at one point. But that seemed unlikely. Gray was their mother through and through and he had their father's dedication and work ethic. What did Zach have? A stubborn personality and need for control.

Just like his Aunt Claire.

The drive to the airport was mostly uneventful, with Zach spending most of it locked away in his own world with his music blasting in his ears. The plane ride wouldn't be any better. It would only be worse due to the fact that he would have to listen to Gray's incessant rambling about dinosaurs. Zach felt like the  _luckiest_  person ever – note the sarcasm.

Like usual, he blocked most of it out. Gray never noticed that he wasn't properly listening – or so Zach thought – so he was fine with merely watching the clouds from the small plane window. It was a surprise Gray had even allowed him to take the window seat.

As the approached Isla Nublar, Zach saw the island looming in the distance and got an odd vibe from it. But then again, what was to be expected from an island that housed hundreds of dinosaurs along with thousands of tourists? Just like he had, Gray noticed the island and, eyes lighting up, leaned over Zach's lap to see it too. His excitement was like a force, slamming into Zach's personal space. He just hoped this week wouldn't drag on and on forever.

Due to his excitement it was hard to keep Gray in his sights as they got off the plane and headed out to the ferry that would take them to the island.

"Gray, wait!" he called after him. "Mum will kill me if I lose you this early on."

Gray shuffled back to his side then, his hand twitching slightly, but that wasn't an option. Instead, he stayed by Zach's side as they made their way through the onslaught of tourists.

"There's going to be so many things I need to see and take pictures of!" Gray was bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I want to see the T-Rex first!"

"Uh huh." Zach squinted in the sunlight, finding the queue they were supposed to join and dragged Gray towards it.

"How big is the island?" Gray asked, while they were boarding.

"Big." Zach sighed, exasperated by his brother already.

"But how many pounds?" Gray pressed.

"That doesn't make sense." Zach muttered.

Without further questioning from Gray, they finally made it on board and found a place to stand, amongst the other tourists, as the boat took off towards Isla Nublar. As per usual, Gray began to spew out facts about the dinosaurs and the theme park but Zach just tuned him out. Instead, he was working on what he was going to say to Claire when he finally met up with her. There wasn't anything he could say that wouldn't cause trouble between them.

_Why did you abandon our family? What's so hard about sending a birthday card to Gray? Why do I look like you and not my mother?_

The latter thought caught him off guard. He'd tried not to think of that as they made their way to the island but now that they were getting closer and now that it had entered his mind, he now had to deal with a mind full of thoughts. It was probably just an over reaction on his part. His Aunt Claire was his mother's sister right? They came from the same gene pool and thus, Zach would have some traits that she had. The similar personality could just be explained by the fact that some people shared the same personality traits and he and his Aunt Claire were similar that way.

But that didn't explain the off feeling he had. There must have been something more to this feeling than just his teen angst bullshit, right?

Glancing to Gray, he watched him as he rambled and studied his face. He was merely looking at a younger, male, version of his mother. He could even see hints of their father in Gray, from the chin to the way his eyes scrunched up slightly while he spoke. He was a genetic hybrid of his parents and Zach was... Zach was the black sheep.

He was brought back into reality by Gray tugging on his sleeve. He hadn't realise they had docked and he slowly followed Gray off of the ferry, keeping his eyes on the back of his younger brother's head as they walked onto the dock and scanned through the sea of people. Zach kept his eyes peeled for his aunt, attempting to locate the bright red of her hair through the mass of people. All he found with a black haired woman holding an Ipad that bore their names on the screen.

Of course she wouldn't be here.

"Where's Aunt Claire?" Gray asked.

His disappointment, much like Zach's, was expected. Where was she and why had she sent some stranger to collect them? This wasn't the deal she'd made with their mother.

"I don't know." he said. "C'mon."

Walking over to the woman, Zach introduced himself and Gray and the woman smiled. It was a cooperate smile, one that wasn't fake but wasn't genuine either. Zach could just imagine the same kind of smile on his Aunt Claire's face.

"I'm Zara." The woman introduced herself. "Your aunt has asked me to watch you for today."

Zach nodded. "Where is she?"

"She has a few meetings today." Zara said. "Let me take you to your room."

That reanimated the excitement in Gray. Going to their room meant he would get to see the dinosaurs sooner. He ran ahead of them as Zach and Zara walked away from the dock and to the place beside the main street, where all of the hotels located. As expected, their aunt had scored them a good set up but that didn't make up for her absence. Hell, this one week would never make up for the years of absence.

"Your aunt has gotten you VIP access." Zara said as she guided them into the room. From the corner of his eyes, Zach saw Zara head over to a box on open of the beds. "So you can get on all of the rides without waiting in line."

Again, it was merely another materiel object that Claire was using to make up for her absence. At least it would make Gray happy.

"Can we go now?" Gray asked.

"She said to wait." Zach said, flopping down on the bed he presumed would be his from now on.

"I want to go now!"

Gray wasn't complaining, he was merely voicing what he wanted in a high pitched manner. Zach blinked a little as light flooded into the room when Gray opened the doors that lead out to the balcony and overlooked the park. The aesthetic didn't entice Zach as much as it did Gray. He was sure the park looked good, a place like this would have to look good. Though, Zach had a sneaking suspicion that this place could have been a dump and people would still have came to it. Dinosaurs had that appeal.

"Ugh." Gray sat down beside Zach's head. "I want to go see the T-Rex now."

"We'll see it soon." Zach muttered, absent mindedly scrolling through his phone.

" _She_." Gray corrected him. "And how long is soon? There's going to be a feeding soon and I want to see it!"

"We have an entire week here." Zach said. "You can see as many T-Rex feedings as you want."

"Okay. Fine." Gray huffed. "Can you at least pretend to be excited?"

Zach pulled his gaze away from his phone and looked at Gray. "I am excited."

"Yeah, if the definition of excited was  _bored out of your mind_." Gray scolded him. Or he didn't it, just felt like he was being scolded.

Zach sighed. "You're the one who wanted to come here. Not me."

"That's a lie." Gray glanced up to Zara who was at the far side of the room, talking on her phone. "You wanted to come."

"Not to see some dinosaurs." Zach said.

"Everybody wants to see dinosaurs." Gray pointed out.

"I'm not everybody."

"No, I know." Gray nodded. "You're here to see Aunt Claire, aren't you?"

"How did you work that out?" Zach asked.

"Cause I know you." Gray shrugged. "You were really disappointed that she didn't meet up with us and now you're moping."

"I'm not moping." Zach frowned but Gray spoke over him.

"And you'll tell me you're not moping but I know you Zach." Gray said. "We'll see Aunt Claire soon and she'll make up for disappointing us. You'll see."

"Whatever." Zach sat up, pulling off his headphones before he stood up.

"You know," Gray said. "You really look like Aunt Claire."

 _Thanks Gray, that's just what I needed to hear,_ was what Zach wanted to say but instead, he headed off into the bathroom and shut the door behind him, locking it behind him. Gray's words echoed in his mind as he peered into the mirror. If Gray noticed it, then did that mean other people did as well? And how long did Gray notice it for? Longer than he did himself? Zach shook his head, meeting his own eyes in the mirror. It was a genetics thing, right? He was from the same gene pool as Claire which meant he would look like her.

And that's what he kept telling himself. He did look like his parents it just wasn't as obvious with him as it was with Gray. Gray had only said that to mess with his mind because he was being a crappy big brother. That's all this was. His mind playing tricks on him.

He did  _not_  look like his Aunt Claire.

* * *

Claire's mind was buzzing.

She'd been on her feet non stop for the majority of the day. She'd been in the control for most of the morning, with Lowery and Vivian, just monitoring the park, before she forced herself to prepare to deal with potential sponsors – Hal, Jim, and Erica – and she was now getting ready to go out and meet with Simon Masrani, to show him the Indominus Rex. She had a pile of work to get through and while she usually had a one track mind – do this then that followed by this – she couldn't help but focus on what day it was.

Her nephews were coming to visit today. They'd be here for a week and they both expected her to spend time with them. Karen, who had graciously called her about five times today, expected her to spend time with them. She had too much work on her hands to have to deal with two boys. She had a park to run.

She also had a sixteen year old secret to keep just that. A secret. She knew the moment she laid eyes on Zach, everything would become that bit more complicated. How was she supposed to work properly when she knew her nephew who was actually her son was walking around at the place she worked? It didn't help that she'd told Zara she would meet them at the innovation centre at one. How could she have been so stupid?

It explained why her mind was buzzing. She was trying to keep herself in check while dealing with the usual aspects of her job as well as the few extra tasks she had today. The most prominent being her meeting with Simon Masrani. They weren't strangers, obviously, but she was showing him the one thing that could give this park a few more years onto it's lifespan – people just weren't interested in typical dinosaurs.

She was on the phone as she made her way to the innovation centre, talking to one of Masrani's people, as she walked across the packed hallway. Everything would be fine. This was just another job to her. She could deal with it.

But, as it turns out, she couldn't deal with it. She stopped a quarter of the way downstairs and found them amongst the crowd. They weren't hard to miss – Zach had his biological father's height. Her breath got stuck in her throat and her heart began to thump in her chest while a warm feeling spread throughout her body. It was a feeling she'd only ever had once before and it could only be described with one word.

_Motherly._

Her intention upon seeing them was to call his name and get his attention but she had a facade to play and Claire was a  _very_ good actress.

"Gray? Is that you?" she called out, loud enough for Gray to hear. The person she was talking to on the phone attempted to capture her attention but they'd long lost it. "Yeah, I have to go. My nephews are here."

Not waiting for an answer, she hung up and made her way downstairs, to the ground level of the innovation centre.

"Aunt Claire!" Gray called out, running over and meeting her halfway.

He slammed into her, his arms going around her waist in an awkward hug. The whole thing was weird for her and she let out a laugh to convey that – she hoped the boys wouldn't know the difference.

"Oh my gosh, you're so sweet." She patted his back and he pulled away, wearing a boyish smile.

They were joined, moments later, by Zach, who did not look as happy as Gray. In fact, he looked slightly peeved by her appearance. Claire felt that same warmth within her and part of her wanted to pull him into her arms, to hold him, to mother him. But she couldn't. She wasn't his mother.

"Woah, Zach, last time I saw you, you were like -" She gestured, with her hand, a height that was a little shorter than Gray's. "That must have been like, what? Three, four years ago?"

"Seven. Seven years, but no, close." he said.

She recognised the tone in his voice. Contempt. He was angry at her for being absent in their lives and he still didn't know the truth. If he did, he would hate her even more. Could Claire risk that? Having her only son, and probably the only child she would ever have, hate her? Or would he understand that she had given him up out of his best interest? A sixteen year old couldn't raise a child, he would surely understand that.

But that was if she was going to tell him. Which she wasn't.

"So, um, I see you already have your wristbands," she glanced down to the blue bands on their wrists. "And this is for food." She handed Gray an envelope with a Jurassic World icon on it. "Zara here is going to take great care of you until I'm done working tonight, okay?"

Her eyes flickered to Zach as she spoke but she regretted it the moment she did. Upset flashed in his eyes at her words but it wasn't him who voiced his disappointment.

"You're not coming with us?" Gray asked and he did a poor job of hiding his sadness, unlike Zach.

Like mother, like son.

"Oh, I really wish that I could." Looking at Zach she watched as he looked away, eyes going elsewhere. "But tomorrow, I'll show you the control room. How everything works. Sounds fun, right?"

Before she could get an answer from either of the boys – though part of her knew she wouldn't get an answer from Zach – her phone began to ring. She took one last glance at them before looking down at her phone. It was Simon who was calling her. She couldn't ignore this call to give them an excuse they would know was fake.

"Okay, so, I will see you tonight at six," she began to take a few steps backwards, determined to make her great escape.

"No, no, don't forget you have the -" Zara spoke up.

"Right. Eight. What time do you got to sleep? Or do you go to bed at separate times?" She was desperately clutching at straws, trying to keep her head above water. Her phone continued to ring and she knew it was hopeless. "Okay. So, have fun." She turned to Zara. "Take care of him –  _them_. Take care of _them_."

Knowing her slip up didn't go unnoticed, Claire answered her call and strode away from the two boys, her heart still pounding in her chest. That had not gone as well as she hoped it would have.

Heading out to the helipad, Claire squinted her eyes as the wind caused by the helicopters blades whipped her hair around her face. As soon as she was done showing off the dinosaur, she would have to check her appearance. It wasn't as if Claire was a vain person, though she had been complimented on her looks many times, she knew that she had to look good to impress potential sponsors for the park. This wind was going to mess up her hair and she wasn't too pleased with that.

As the helicopter landed, Claire made her way over and got in, shuffling to the side of the aircraft that was furthest from the open door. As she began to fasten her seatbelt she looked up and saw none other than Simon Masrani in the pilot's seat.

"Mr Masrani," she said. "You're flying?"

"Yes. I got my lisence" Simon said, grinning but was interrupted by his instructor.

"Two more." he said.

Simon waved him off. "Two more days."

Claire nodded, yelping slightly when Simon started a rather shaky take off. She clutched onto the seat at her side, holding her breath as they got into the air. She was never fond of helicopters, choosing to use her car to travel from place to place but this  _was_  Simon's meeting and she couldn't argue with the man who giving the park it's money.

"Now, how is my park doing?" Simon asked her before he focussed on flying.

"Oh, right." Claire began to delve into the park's livelihood and the numbers that followed both it's growth in park visitors and popularity until she was interrupted by Simon.

"No, no. How's it  _doing_?" Simon asked. "Are the guests having fun? Are the animals happy?"

"Well," Claire nodded, caught off guard by the question. "Guest satisfaction is steady, in the low nineties and... we don't really have a way to measure the animals moods."

"Sure you do!" Simon chuckled. "You can see it in their eyes!"

As soon as he said it, Claire instantly remembered the disappointed look on Zach's face, the anger and slight sadness that had shone in his eyes – they were his father's, no matter how much Claire hated the man that had gotten her pregnant, she could  _never_  forget his eyes.

But she couldn't dwell on that. She couldn't focus on the fact that Zach, the only child she would have, was probably going to hate her for the rest of his life. Her heart began to race and she felt like she couldn't breathe. A cold hand had wrapped itself around her throat, cutting off her oxygen.

She thought back to the night she had called on Zach's first birthday. Scott had answered the phone and a one sided fight had ensued. Scott had called her all of the names under the sun – slut, cow, whore, you name it and he said it – and Claire had listened, silently, as he berated her. Despite only being seventeen at the time, she knew she deserved it. She had given up her child, a child she wasn't supposed to have in the first place.

A child she now had to face in the worst way possible.

If she could, she would have gone back and changed her past mistakes. But... that meant getting rid of the boy and Claire wasn't sure she wanted a life were he wasn't alive. He was still, after all, her son and no matter how distant they were, she still had a motherly bond with him, even if it was only minuscule. Even merely thinking about him sent a wave of maternal feelings through her now; Was he having fun? Was he safe? Was he okay? Was Zara taking extra good care of him? Did he ever wonder about her?

They were all questions she wanted the answer to. They were questions, she would have sought said answers to, had she not been afraid of the consequences. Zach was sixteen now, could she really destroy his life like that? Could she take him away from Karen and Scott like that? What about Gray? He loved his big brother. There was no way Claire could tear the two apart, even if their relationship was fraught with animosity.

And, as they touched down at the Indominus Rex paddock, Claire decided she wouldn't ask these question or tell him the truth. She could spend a week lying to him.

She  _had_  been doing it for sixteen years, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Zach begins to crack the code and Owen Grady hasn't changed at all.

The Indominus Rex wasn't a real dinosaur. In fact, none of the dinosaurs in the entire park were real, per say. It took them a few months to create her, they hit a few speed bumps along the way but what project didn't go through that kind of trouble? Claire is proud of the team who worked on making the dinosaur, lead by Dr Henry Wu. She's going to be the parks next big thing and it's going to bring in more guests to the park. It's the only way that they believe they can keep the park up and running.

No one's impressed by a dinosaur anymore.

“So, she's intelligent?” Simon asked.

Claire hummed. “For a dinosaur.”

It wasn't that Claire didn't think the Indominus Rex was intelligent, it was just that she was a dinosaur, an animal, they weren't exactly the same as humans. Calling her intelligent was a compliment in Claire's eyes.

“And that?” Simon asked, pointing to the window beside her.

Claire turned her attention to the window. She saw the three large cracks that had been pointed out to her a good week or so ago. They were working on getting it fixed but with how hostile the Indominus Rex had gotten, it was hard to get anything done regarding her or her paddock.

“It tried to break the glass.” Claire said, hitting a few buttons on the pad next to her. She was trying to draw the dinosaur out, to show Simon what he had given them funding for.

“I like her spirit.” Simon nodded.

Their attention was captured by the soft sound of snarling. It was slowly followed by foliage and twigs snapping as the dinosaur started to present herself. Claire took a deep breath and moved a few steps to the side. She wasn't impressed with the dinosaur, having worked in the park for as long as she had, she had grown numb to the effects the beasts had on people and merely saw them as yet another animal to take care of, another mouth to feed. There was only so many goats in the world.

“Oh, she's white.” Simon breathed out. His tone conveyed just how impressed he was with her. “You never told me she was white.”

Claire glanced to him before looking back at the dinosaur. “Do you think it'll scare the kids?”

“The kids?” Simon paused. “This will give the parents nightmares.”

“Is that good?” Claire asked, unsure how to feel about this.

“That's fantastic.”

Claire looked back at the dinosaur. She was looking directly at them – or where she sensed their body heat coming from anyway. It was quite astounding to imagine the reactions of park visitors and the world to this creature. She began to wonder what parent would willingly bring their child to view such a ferocious beast but then remembered that she had given her own son a pass that allowed him to travel throughout the park without so much as a problem.

She looked down at her feet when she thought about Zach. His disappointed face had been etched into her mind and she was unsure if it would ever leave. She would just have to make it up to him. How she did that, however, was a mystery all on it's own. Claire certainly wasn't going to tell him. That could ruin the whole trip, not only for Zach but for Gray too. She had never taken Gray into account until now. He loved his big brother dearly and for him to find out that Zach wasn't his brother would be devastating. Claire didn't want to be the cause of that. She had already caused so much trouble in their family, Scott hated her for what she put on them but it wasn't as if Karen hadn't offered her assistance. Zach was better in their hands, he'd grown and become a young man, something that would never have happened had she kept him.

It was a family secret and it would remain a family secret.

Because of her stupor, she heard Simon talking but completely missed what he had been saying.

“Hm? What?”

“I was just asking if the paddock was safe.” Simon said.

Claire smiled. “We have the best instructional engineers in the world.”

“So did Hammond.” Simon pointed out and Claire shot a glare in his direction. “There's an American NAVY man here, part of one of the research programmes my company is running, Owen Grady.”

Claire pursed her lips. That man had been the bane of her existence ever since he arrived her at Isla Nublar. Of course Simon would bring him into this. Claire could handle all of this on her own, she didn't need Owen to come over here. But, Simon probably wanted that and Claire wasn't going to go against what he wanted.

Just as long as Owen didn't show up in board shorts, then everything would be fine.

“I know him.” she said. Know, in this case, being a far less complicated term to use.

“His animals often try to escape, they're smart, he has to be smarter.” Simon said.

Claire tried to suppress a smile. “He only _thinks_ he's smarter.”

Simon gave her a look that suggested he didn't like how she was speaking. “I want you to bring him in, to inspect the paddock.”

Claire tried not to roll her eyes at him. They _didn't_ need to bring Owen into this.

“Maybe he'll see something we can't.”

Claire nodded. “I'll get right on it.”

Claire's relationship with Owen wasn't exactly the best and she knew that she may need to do some convincing to get him out here. He would do it, since Simon himself was asking for him, but he would be a pain in the ass about it. Claire knew Owen well enough to know how he would react to all of this.

Owen was, to say the least, an animal.

* * *

 

“Lift me up! I can't see!”

Zach rolled his eyes. How they had ended up at one of the worst places in the entire park, he would never know. And, just like he had expected, Gray wouldn't stop his incessant talking.

“No, I'm not dad.” he said, continuing to walk down the crowded pathway while Gray danced around him, snapping pictures of the small dinosaurs. “And you're not a little kid.”

“I can still ride the triceratops I'm forty seven and a half inches.” Gray said, coming to a stop.

“This place is for little kids.” Zach sighed.

“I know.” Gray nodded and came to stand next to him. “Wanna go on the spinning dinosaur eggs?”

“Nope.”

Gray pushed his lips to the side and dropped his hands to his sides. It was the first time in the better part of an hour that he'd brought his camera away from his face. “Can you at least pretend that you're having fun?”

“What?” Zach asked. “I'm having fun.”

“No, you're not.” Gray said. “You have that same look on your face and tone to your voice that you get when mum makes us all go grocery shopping.”

Zach looked down at his brother and sighed. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Are you okay?” Gray asked.

“I'm fine.”

“Are you sure?” Gray pressed. “Because I over heard mum and dad talking and they were saying stuff about you.”

Zach frowned. “What about me?”

“They just mentioned some stuff and dad said it was just some teen angst bull – um... and then mum said you were probably confused.” Gray shrugged. “She said you might be going through the same stuff normal teenagers do but a little worse.”

Zach scoffed, feeling embarrassed over a conversation he hadn't even known had taken place until now. “That's stupid.”

“She said it might be an identity crisis.” Gray shrugged. “I don't know what that means.”

“Me neither.” Zach mumbled.

But he knew exactly what it meant. That was obviously what was happening right now. He looked down to Gray, with his light curly hair and light eyes and noticed just how different they were. People looking at them must have been struggling to see them as brothers. Zach was struggling to do that right now. Of course, he still felt a brotherly connection towards Gray and he would always be his older brother but things still felt off.

He also didn't want to continue this conversation and he glanced back to Zara, who was yapping away on her phone before he turned back to Gray.

“Go.” he said. “Scatter c'mon.”

“What?” Gray asked, frowning.

“C'mon.” Zach started walking, pulling Gray with him until they both broke out into a run and bolted from the petting zoo.

They kept running until they reached the main street again and were sure Zara hadn't seen or followed them. They had finally broken free from her and her weird ideas that they would be satisfied with the rides and attractions that little kids would be. As they walked through the crowd, Gray started to walk ahead of him, excitement lighting up his face. A woman over the speakers announced that there would be a T-Rex feeding sometime in the next ten minutes and, of course, Gray wanted to go.

“T-Rex! T-Rex feeding!” he called out. “C'mon Zach, let's go!”

Zach nodded, holding up a hand to try and calm Gray down. People were looking at them. “Alright, I'm coming.”

Together, they walked into the section of the park called T-Rex Kingdom. It was a little dumb in Zach's eyes but what did he know about running a theme park?

There was a trail of people making their way to the same attraction that they were and Zach allowed Gray to run ahead of him. He didn't mind if he missed the feeding but he knew Gray would be upset if he did. When they did reach the guest area, Zach was less than impressed. A metal tube disguised as a log. From what he'd picked up on from hearing Gray, the dinosaur was smarter than that. She probably knew they were there and doing this was only an insult to her intelligence.

But Zach didn't care about the dinosaurs. Not one bit.

Midway through the feeding, Zach heard his phone ring and he brought it out of his pocket to see that it was his mother calling him. He looked at the screen and wondered if he should answer it or not. Knowing how she would react if he _didn't_ answer, he hit accept and pressed the phone to his ear.

“Hey mum.” he said. “What's up?”

“You were supposed to call me when you landed.” Karen said.

“I forgot.” Zach sighed, looking back at Gray who was trying to see over the crowd of people.

“Alright.” Karen said. “Are you having fun?”

“Gray is.” Zach said. “We just saw the T-Rex feeding.”

“Are _you_ having fun?” Karen asked.

Zach hesitated. “Aunt Claire gave us these special wristbands that allows us to skip the queues.”

“That's nice.” Karen paused then. “Wait, she's not with you?”

“Nope.”

“She's supposed to be...” Karen said.

“I know.” Zach said. “I'm not bothered though, Gray was a little hurt but she promised to spend time with us tomorrow so...”

“The whole reason you were sent there was so she...” Karen stopped. “She's supposed to spend time with you and Gray.”

“Work's apparently more important.” Zach narrowed his eyes. Why did she sound so annoyed? Sure, she was upset that Claire wasn't spending time with them when she said she would but it seemed as if there was more to it than that. Her stopping mid sentence only proved that. “I don't care.”

“Zach,” Karen sighed. “You need to go find your Aunt Claire.”

“Gray's not done with looking at the dinosaurs.” Zach said.

“You have an entire week to see them.” Karen said.

Zach frowned. “Why do you want us to spend time together so badly?”

“I just – I think there's some things you and her need to talk about, that's all.” Karen said.

“Like what?” Zach asked.

“I... I have to go. Take care of your brother.” Karen said. “And remember, speak to your Aunt Claire.”

Before Zach got the chance to find out any more, Karen hung up. He frowned down at his phone and slipped it back into his pocket. Turning back to Gray, he saw that people had begun to leave the area and they couldn't mess around.

“C'mon,” he said to Gray. “Let's go.”

Gray nodded, less excited now that he'd seen what he'd been so eager to see. Zach was sure he'd still be enthusiastic about dinosaurs, they just didn't have the same magic to them as the T-Rex did.

As they were leaving the place, Zach caught sight of his reflection in the window of the door and he paused. He was trying his best not to think about how he didn't look like his parents or his brother but it was getting harder and harder to ignore. And then there was how strangely his mother was acting, the things she had said were weird and they didn't make sense. Why would his Aunt Claire have something to speak to him, and only him, about? Just as he was being ushered out of the place by Gray, Zach realised that the two may have had something in common.

Something he didn't want to admit to himself.

* * *

 

Claire had been psyching herself up to go speak to Owen Grady ever since Simon had told her to do so. She knew what the man was like and their conversation would, no doubt, lead to her having some kind of headache. She had put pain killers in the glove compartment of her car as she got into it. Driving down to where Owen's home – if it could even be called that – was, she was hoping this talk would only last a few moments and she could get out of it quickly. Owen had to be dealt with in a certain way.

And while she was preparing to deal with Owen, she never expected to be called by her sister. As soon as she heard the phone ringing, her heart dropped into her stomach. She knew why Karen was calling her: Zach. Bracing herself, she hit answer.

“Hey Karen.” she said.

“Hi Claire.” Karen said. “How are things going?”

“Um,” Claire gulped. “Great! The boys are having fun and we're – we're -”

“Is that so?” Karen asked.

“Yes.”

“So why did Zach just tell me that you're not with them?” Karen asked.

Claire sighed. “Listen, Karen, I have a ton of work to do today,

“I get that.” Karen said. “but you promised you'd spend time with the boys.”

“I know.” Claire said. “But I can't get exactly drop my work and spend time with them.”

Karen sighed. “You know that this isn't what I'm calling about.”

Claire scoffed. “I know exactly why you're calling and for the millionth time Karen, I'm not telling him. It may seem like a good idea to you but I can guarantee that it's not.”

“He deserves to know, Claire.” Karen said.

“Oh, yeah and I'm going to tell him right now and ruin his entire trip.” Claire said. “Or I'll him at some point and ruin his entire life. I'm not doing that to him.”

“Zach will understand.” Karen said. “Give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“What about Gray then?” Claire asked. “Will he understand?”

Karen remained silent for a few moments. “This isn't about Gray, it's about Zach.”

“It _is_ about Gray.” Claire said. “He loves Zach and thinks he's his big brother, I don't want to ruin that for him.”

“You think that's the worst thing that can happen?” Karen asked. “Zach's already confused about who he is, he's questioning it. He's not asking me about it but he's questioning it.”

“That's not something I can stop.” Claire said.

“You can stop it by letting him know the truth.” Karen said. “It's the decent thing to do.”

Claire sighed and stopped when she saw Owen's home looming in the distance. She'd never been more happy to see the disgusting little shack.

“Listen Karen, we can talk about this later.” She said. “I've got stuff to do.”

Before Karen got the chance to protest, Claire hung up and let out a deep breath. Karen was trying too hard to get her to admit the truth. Maybe it would be easier for them all if Zach did find out himself. She already knew that he would hate her no matter how the truth came out, so she wasn't too bothered about that being the way Zach found out.

Pulling up just outside of Owen's home, she parked the car and looked out of the window. She could see Owen sitting at his damn bike, messing around with it. That was just like him. She opened the car door and got out, tugging her jacket around her shoulders tighter as she made her way over.

“What do they want now?” Owen groaned, apparently thinking she wouldn't hear him.

“Mr Grady.” Claire said.

“Mr Grady?” Owen laughed. “Why are you calling me that?”

Claire sighed, feeling a dull ache in her temples already. “Owen, I need to speak to you.”

“What about?” Owen asked, wiping his hands on a rag.

“Um, as you probably know, we have an attraction opening here soon.” Claire said.

“That's not what you said before.” Owen smirked as he got up.

“Very funny.” Claire smiled at him. “Mr Masrani has asked me to have you inspect the paddock for weaknesses.”

“Did he?” Owen ask as he made his way over to his shack, climbing the stairs and picking up a glass bottle of Cola. “Why me?”

“Well,” Claire followed up, grimacing when she almost got her heel stuck in the grass. “He said you have to be smart to outwit your dinosaurs, or whatever. I don't believe you're smart but -”

Owen smirked again and moved towards her until there was very little personal space between them. “The paddock for my raptors is secure. I _do_ have to be smart, otherwise they would be running rampant around this park.”

“Yes, he said.” Claire said, her breath hitching. She didn't like that he was so close but at the same time, she could feel a familiar tug on her heart. She did have feelings for him at one point. “Can you do it?”

“I don't know.” Owen shrugged. “What is she?”

“It's... classified.” Claire clasped her hands together. “You think you can do?”

“I _can_ do it.” he said. “It's a question of _should_ I.”

“You should do it,” she said. “It's your job.”

“It's not my job.” he said. “My job is to look after and train my raptors, not inspect paddocks.”

Claire sighed. “I'm asking you to do this.”

“Mhm.” he nodded. “Okay, I'll do it.”

“You will?”

“Sure.” Owen shrugged. “I have another hour or so before I need to get back to my raptors, so why not?”

“Uh huh.” Claire nodded. “You and the raptors?”

“What can I say, we have a relationship.” Owen shrugged. “Unlike -”

“A relationship, huh?” Claire asked. “That's... sweet.”

“Are you jealous?” Owen snickered.

“No, not at all.” Claire scoffed.

“Don't worry, green eyed princess, it's not _that_ kind of relationship.” Owen said. “They're like my... children.”

Claire almost stopped breathing. Why was everyone so interested in bringing children into all of their conversations with her today? She couldn't help but view it all as a sign. Was the world telling her she _had_ to tell Zach? If the world _was_ saying that then the world could go screw itself.

“Children?” she asked, voice shaky.

“Yeah,” Owen's brow furrowed. He'd obviously picked up on her sudden mood change. “I don't expect you to understand what that's like.”

“Having a kid?” Claire asked. “No... I wouldn't know.”

“Mhm.” Owen nodded. “They're the only children I need. Actual children are just... a big no. Too much work.”

“Teenagers though...” Claire said.

“Are even worse.” Owen finished. “They're all reckless and get themselves into trouble and are constantly going against their parents wishes.”

“Just like the raptors.” Claire finished.

“Yeah,” Owen smiled. “Just like the raptors.”

“I think you could handle having a teenager.” Claire said. “You do well with the raptors.”

“Maybe.” Owen shrugged. “What about you? Could you handle a teenager?”

Claire chuckled, part of her wanting to let him know that she already had a teenager. “No. Not enough control.”

“I should have known.” Owen said. “You and control, it's... insane.”

“I like being in control.” Claire scoffed. “There's nothing wrong with that.”

“Not when it ruins a date.”

Claire crossed her arms. “Really?”

“Yes really!” Owen laughed. “Who has an itinerary for a date?”

“Organised people.” Claire said.

“And what diet doesn't allow tequila?” Owen asked.

“Them all, actually.”

Owen chuckled. “You should loosen up Claire. I could help with that.”

Claire pursed her lips. “Go change. It's sensitive to smell.”

Not giving him room to protest, Claire made her way over to her car and got in. She sat in the driver's seat, hands clutching the steering wheel. She glanced up to Owen who was looking over at her before he headed into his home. She let out a sigh and leaned back in her seat. If anyone found out the real reason why she needed to be in control then they would never look at her the same way again.

How could she tell people that she had lost control of herself at one point and that had resulted in her having a son? No one would respect her the same way and that's why she couldn't let anyone know, she would never have been able to live it down. She was always scared of the truth getting out and ruining her. It wouldn't look good and she knew that the park wouldn't like that kind of scandal. She could lose her job if the truth was spilled, so that's why she was fine with leaving it as a secret.

Glancing to her phone, she picked it up and unlocked it. She went through it until she found what she was looking for. The picture that Karen had sent her over a year ago. The Mitchell family looked happy, all standing in the snow. How could she disrupt that?

Her eyes went to Zach and she sighed. She wanted, more than anything, to be able to just hold him. She wanted, more than anything, to just be his mother but she couldn't have that without ruining everything she had built up for the past sixteen years. So, she would have to go without. She could handle that.

Maybe.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everything goes to shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking so long to update! You all must think I'm terrible omg. I just went through a lot of personal issues lately that prohibited me from writing this which sucks because it's one of my favourite things to write! As a way of making up for a month long wait, I've made this chapter extra long. I've also taken a few creative liberties - such as Owen having a sister and Claire and Owen being less hostile towards each other - because they work for this AU.

Despite having heard rumours about the park's new dinosaur, Owen didn't have the time – or level of care – to actually look into it further than what he and Barry discussed while on a short break from training the raptors. Barry was like him in a lot of ways. Neither of them cared about what happened in the park besides their raptors. Unlike him, however, Barry was more in tune with the animals of this place. Owen was always envious of that, envious of the way Barry could seemingly understand the raptors – save for Blue – better than he could. Wasn't he their lead trainer?

The one thing, however, that Barry couldn't do that Owen could, was read people. He'd learned that in his time at the NAVY. He was taught to be able to pick up on little things that would give away a person's true intentions or things along those lines. That helped him in a few ways with his new job as a trainer. He could read his fellow trainers and he could sometimes read the raptors but more importantly, he could read Claire Dearing.

And his readings were telling him that something was wrong.

The way she had spoken about children and his raptors and the way she seemed tenser than usual all gave off hints that there was something stirring in that pretty mind of hers. Her knuckles were white as she clutched onto the steering wheel of her Mercedes. Owen wanted to reach out and comfort her but he didn't know if he was allowed that privilege anymore.

"Hey," he said. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Claire said then pursed her lips.

"You seem tense."

"So would you if you had to oversee an entire park." Claire said.

"I oversee four deadly animals," Owen said. "I think I know what it's like."

"It's a completely different thing, Owen." Claire spoke softly.

"I guess." Owen rubbed the back of his neck. "You know you can speak to me, right?"

Claire sighed, her green eyes glued to the road. "My nephew – My nephews are here."

"Oh." Owen nodded. "That's nice."

"Not really, my sister wants me to talk to him – them and it's just... terrible." Claire sighed.

Owen narrowed his eyes. Why would someone not want to talk to their nephews? He knew if his sister had kids, he would want to see them. "What ages are they?"

"The oldest is si – high school age." Claire said. "The other is... younger."

Owen continued to narrow his eyes. Claire seemed to be stumbling over her words a lot. She'd almost only spoken about one of her two nephews and now she was pretending not to know their ages? Why would she do that? It didn't make any sense.

"What's their names?" Owen asked.

"Zach and Gray." Claire said. "They're here for the week. I can't – I don't want to deal with it."

"Then why even agree to let them come?" Owen asked.

"To get my sister off my case." Claire said. "The older one can take care of them. He's... capable."

"Do you even like these kids?" Owen asked.

"Of course I do!" Claire snapped. "They're my family!"

While Owen understood that there was a certain level of protectiveness surrounding family members – he and his sister had always been protective of each other – he didn't understand why Claire was being  _overly_  defensive. She couldn't blame him for asking the question, the way she was talking was giving off the vibe that she didn't care about these kids, even if her body language told him something different.

"Okay, calm down." Owen said. "I get being protective of your family."

Claire sighed. "I'm sorry. Snapping at you signifies a lack of control."

Owen rolled his eyes at that. "So, they're your sister's kids?"

"Yeah." Claire said, voice hard. "I have a picture on my phone, you can look at it if you want."

Picking up her phone, Owen allowed the screen to light up and he saw a picture of a family he didn't know. He could pick out Claire in the picture along with a man, a woman who looked like her and two boys. The boys were relatively young and nowhere near the ages she'd described them as.

"I thought you said they were older?"

"They are." Claire said. "I just haven't seen them in a while."

"Oh." Owen continued to look at the picture. "Which one is which?"

"The youngest one, Gray, is beside my sister." Claire said. "The oldest, he's, um, he's at the very end."

Owen nodded and looked down at the picture. He frowned when he looked at the boy called Zach. There was something about him that he recognised, something that was very odd. He looked between the boy in the picture and Claire and frowned. After a few seconds of studying each individual, it finally clicked.

"Why does Zach look so much like you?"

Claire went tense and for a moment, it seemed as if she had forgotten how to breathe before she suddenly snatched the phone from his hand and put it in her pocket.

"We'll be at the paddock in a few minutes. Try to be professional." she said.

Owen nodded, his eyes narrowed. That was odd.

* * *

Claire's heart was pounding. Her phone weighed heavily in her pocket and she could barely focus on what Owen was saying about the paddock. She'd been so reckless, so unprofessional. She'd almost allowed him to know more than he should have. Sure, she trusted Owen but there was just some things you couldn't tell someone, no matter how much you trusted them. As Owen continued to go on about the paddock, silencing himself for a few moments as he inspected the shattered glass panel, Claire got her phone out.

While everyone else in the control room was preoccupied, she unlocked it and pull up the most recent picture she had of Zach. Owen was right, they  _did_  look alike. It was uncanny but also not that hard to believe; she was his mother, after all. She brushed her fingers over the pixels that made up her son's face and sighed quietly. Could she tell him? Could she really do that to her sister's perfect little family? There was more cons than pros. The only pro being she would be able to breathe without feeling like a block of concrete was pressed against her chest.

And the cons? There were so many. Zach would hate her even more, Gray would resent her for taking away his brother, Scott would have an even bigger reason to openly hate her and Karen would no longer had the safety net of the Mitchell family. Claire wasn't going to be the person to disrupt that, she couldn't be.

"Hey, are you even listening to me?" Owen asked.

"Of course I am." Claire said, pocketing her phone. "What is it?"

"I said, were those claw marks there before?" Owen asked.

And just like that, Claire had an even bigger problem. She took a few steps forward towards the glass, her heels clicking, and she stopped, her mouth parting slightly. The brick wall of the enclosure was scrapped from top to bottom with claw marks that definitely hadn't been there when she had visited here earlier. The wall had been clear of any abrasions when she had shown Simon the paddock earlier today.

"No." she said, shaking her head. "No. That's not right."

"What's wrong?" Owen asked.

"Check for it's signature." Claire told the worker at the other end of the room.

She heard a few beeps and clicks as he did what she had told him to before a image flashed on screen that frightened her. They'd be careful, they knew what had happened at the very first park and they had taken the necessary safety precautions to make sure no such thing happened eve again but it seemed as if that wasn't enough.

"She's not there." The worker said.

"Oh my god." Claire breathed out.

"Wait," Owen said. "How did you manage to lose a  _dinosaur?_ "

"Now is not the time." Claire snapped at him before turning back to the worker. "Are you sure it's not in there?"

The worker shook his head. "She's not there, I doubled checked."

"Okay." Claire nodded. "I'll call the control room, have Lowery do a scan and we'll go from there."

She headed for the door then but was stopped when Owen grabbed her arm.

"Are you sure you should leave?" he asked. "If she's out there then -"

"I'll be fine."

Despite her hostile tone, Claire couldn't help but notice the concerned look in his eyes. He was worried about her. She would be fine, however, the control room wasn't that far away and the dinosaur had an implant in it's head, if it got too far away, it would be shocked. Simple enough.

Moving quickly, she ran out to her car, picking out her phone and dialling Lowery's number as she got in. It took a few rings before he answered.

"Claire, hi." he said, in his usual tone of voice.

"Lowery," Claire said as she kicked her car into gear and started down the road. "I need you to do check for a dinosaur."

"Alright." Lowery said. "Which one?"

"The Indominus Rex."

"The  _what_?!" Lowery snapped.

"Just do it!" Claire snapped back.

"Alright, alright." Lowery muttered and Claire heard typing.

Her heart was racing. Did they really manage to lose a dinosaur? If it were true, the guests would stop coming, the park would lose revenue – and that was just the tip of the ice berg. They couldn't afford this, it would only end in tragedy, either for the park or the guests. Either way, it wasn't good.

Everything was quiet and still as Lowery did the check until Claire heard muttering from the other end of the phone. Lowery was saying something to Vivan that Claire couldn't make out.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Lowery, talk to me."

"There's someone in the paddock." Lowery said. "No, wait – there's three of them."

"What? What are they doing in there?!" she demanded.

"I don't know but – oh no."

Claire didn't like the sound of that.  _Oh no_ 's always proceeded something bad. Claire had heard a lot of  _oh no_ 's in her life and this was no exception.

"What's going on?" Claire asked.

"She's still in the paddock," Lowery said. "She's in there with them."

"No, that's impossible, I was  _just_  there."

"Claire, I'm telling you," Lowery said but then stopped.

Claire felt her whole world stop. The dinosaur was still in the paddock? But how? It hadn't shown up when they scanned for it. It wasn't possible for it to just disappear, so why had it managed to do that?

But that wasn't the worst thing. Lowery had said something about people being in the paddock along with the Indominus Rex. There had been two people there with her plus a maintenance guy. That meant... that meant  _Owen_  was in the paddock along with the dinosaur.

"Wait a minute. There's still people in there." Lowery eventually finished.

"Get them out of there." she said, sternly.

"Paddock 11, this is control," Vivan said. "It's in the cage. It's in there with you."

Claire could hear desperation in her voice, she could feel the desperation build within her. This couldn't be happening, this shouldn't be happening. Not right now, not when her life had started to crumble as it was.

Suddenly, she heard an uproar, she heard people shouting in the control room as panic ensued. From the bits and pieces she heard, she could make out that the dinosaur had attacked the three in the paddock. There was shouts and screams which could only mean something bad had happened. What if that something bad had happened to Owen?

"What's going on?!" she yelled down the phone.

She didn't get a reply but she could still hear the shouts and screams, could still hear people's panic. She herself could feel panic build within her but she wouldn't allow herself to lose control like that. She had to remain level headed if she wanted to make sense of all of this.

"Lowery!" she yelled. "Tell me what's happening!"

Over the shouts and screams, she heard Lowery's voice come down the phone.

"She got out."

Claire felt the phone slide from her grasp and clatter somewhere down the side of her seat. The dinosaur had gotten out. The one thing they had tried so hard to stop had happened. This  _really_  couldn't be happening, not on one of the busiest days of the year and certainly not after it happened at the first park. Hopefully the shock theory would work and they could contain this breach before it got out of hand. However, the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach told her that was impossible to hope for.

But then, as she raced down the road, she realised that that wasn't the actual cause of the sinking feeling. It had been formed when her subconscious realised the real reason and her conscious had only now begun to understand.

There was a dinosaur loose in her park. There was a  _deadly_  dinosaur loose in her park. There was a deadly dinosaur loose in her park the very day her  _son_  decided to come and visit.

She could lose him before she had even gotten the chance to be his mother, he could be one of the possible fatalities within the park should the Indominus Rex wreck havoc among the place. But then, as she clutched onto the steering wheel tightly, she felt a wave of motherly instinct wash over her. That  _wouldn't_  happen. She  _wouldn't_  lose her son before she had gotten the chance to tell him the truth, she would never be able to live with herself if he died not knowing she was his mother. She would find him as soon as she had been briefed in the control room, she would find him and keep him safe.

Even if it killed her.

* * *

Despite having special wristbands that allowed them to travel through the queues quicker, Zach found that he and Gray had had to still wait in a somewhat long queue. It seemed it wasn't just the two of them that had the privilege of special wristbands. The other queue was insanely long and Zach only felt a little bad for the people that were in the queue. They should have had connections, like they did.

As per usual, Gray was perched at his side, rambling on about the Gyrospheres, the ride they had decided to use. It was a free roaming one, where they could go wherever they wanted as long as they were within the perimeter of the ride's domain. It was just yet another restriction. The whole park was full of them but that was to be expected. They were in a place with animals that could possibly kill them. That wouldn't be fun.

"There's all this cool technology they used to make sure nothing could break the glass," Gray said. "It's so you can get close to some of the more dangerous ones and not get hurt."

"Uh huh."

"Of course, they don't have any carnivorous dinosaurs out here because that would be too dangerous." Gray continued. "People could get hurt and that wouldn't be fun."

"Right."

"It's mostly herbivores but that's fine." Gray said. "They're some of my favourites. They don't have as many teeth as the meat eaters but they're still cool. What's your favourite?"

"Yeah."

"Zach," Gray frowned.

"What?" Zach asked.

"Are you listening?" Gray asked.

"Uh, sure."

"What did I ask you then?" Gray asked.

"Uh, something about dinosaurs or – or technology. I don't know." Zach shrugged.

"Do you even want to be here?" Gray asked.

"You know I do." Zach said.

"It doesn't feel like it." Gray said. "It's like you came here for some other reason."

"You don't know anything."

Gray looked at him, seemingly figuring out that Zach  _was_  here for another reason other than coming for the thrill of the park. He was going to ask when the Gyrosphere was drawn into the station and it was their turn to get into it. They got in, Zach getting in first, and buckled their seatbelts before it was closed around them and they were being sent out into the grass field.

_Jimmy Fallon_  appeared in a video on the small screen explaining the Gyrosphere's properties but Zach wasn't paying any attention. He didn't care. Gray was looking out of the glass, his eyes wide as he looked at the few dinosaurs milling around. It'd been too close. Gray had almost gotten to the bottom of why Zach had come here. He could feel his had become clammy as he gripped the joystick that controlled the sphere.

What would Gray think if Zach admitted that he felt like they were different? Of course, they  _were_  different, he just meant a different kind of different.

What if they weren't brothers?

Zach shook the thought out his head and pushed the sphere forward. He was trying his best not to think of any bad scenarios. He wouldn't know what to do if he found out that Gray wasn't his brother. They may have had their differences but they were still brothers, Zach would still have gone to Hell and back for Gray.

Would that still be the same if they weren't brothers? And why was he thinking of that anyway? It wasn't as if they weren't brothers... right?

Shaking his head, he continued to steer the ride, trying to target large groups of dinosaurs and for the most part, Gray seemed interested in them before it became apparent that his older brother was preoccupied and wasn't actually paying attention to him or any of the animals around them.

"Zach," Gray said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Zach lied.

"You can tell me, you know that." Gray said. "I won't tell mum."

Zach sighed. "It's nothing. Just some... teenage stuff."

"Dad said that too." Gray said. "I don't think that's true."

"You think what you want to think." Zach muttered.

"You're my brother," Gray said. "Whether you like me or not, you can talk to me."

"What does it matter?" Zach asked. "It'll be over before I'm eighteen and this will just be a distant memory to us both."

Gray reached out, gently putting his hand over Zach's. Zach didn't like this and jerked his hand away, bring their sphere to a sudden stop.

"What the f- hell?!" Zach snapped.

"I just want to be sure that you're fine." Gray said, innocently.

Zach sighed. "Don't do that again."

"Tell me why you came to the park with me then." Gray said.

Zach leaned back in his seat, feeling uncomfortable in his seatbelt. "It was for Aunt Claire."

"Why her?" Gray asked. "I thought you hated her?"

"It's not that I hate her." Zach said. "I just... it's a long story."

"Can you tell me?" Gray asked.

"No." Zach sighed. "You just don't know her like I do."

Gray stared at him for a long moment. "You can trust me."

"It's nothing."

"It's clearly not nothing, Zach." Gray said. "Please tell me."

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Please."

" _No._ "

" _Please."_

"I look like her, okay?!" Zach snapped.

Gray was taken back by his sudden aggressiveness. "What do you mean?"

"I look like Aunt Claire, okay?"

"O-Of course you do." Gray said. "She's our Aunt."

"No, I mean I look like her the way I'm supposed to look like mum or dad." Zach said.

"What does that mean?" Gray asked.

Zach shrugged. "I don't know."

They sat in silence for a long time before Zach heard his phone ring. Sighing, he got it out of his pocket, expecting it to be his mother, when he saw that it was Claire. Glancing to Gray, he quickly answered the called and pressed the phone to his ear.

"Aunt Claire," he said. "hey."

"Zach, are you with -"

Her end of the call suddenly broke up, distorting her voice.

"What?" he asked. "Aunt Claire?"

"Where are you?" she asked, though her voice was broken due to the weak signal.

"Uh, Gray and I are in the hamster ball." he said. "What's up?"

"Okay, Zach, I need you to -" her voice crackled again and Zach frowned.

"Aunt Claire?"

He heard her attempt to talk again but then the call cut out. Shrugging, he put his phone back into his pocket.

"What did she want?" Gray asked.

"Nothing." Zach said. "C'mon, let's go."

He started up the sphere again, aiming towards a group of dinosaurs with weird shaped heads. They looked like pick axes. Gray leaned forward in his seat, watching them with amazement. It was nice to see, despite the sudden animosity between them.

And, just when they were both slowly getting into it, a voice came through the small speaker in the sphere.

" _Due to technical difficulties, all of our exhibits are now close. Please disembark from all rides and return to the resort._ "

Zach, for a moment, thought the message was a gift in disguise until he saw the saddened look on Gray's face. There was no way he was going to let this dissuade his brother, he'd already had a tough time here and Zach wouldn't allow that to happen again.

"We can stay on for a little longer." Zach said.

"But they said the ride was closed?" Gray said.

"But Aunt Claire gave us special wristbands, we can stay on for longer." Zach said.

Gray reluctantly nodded. "Okay."

Pushing the joystick as far forward as he could, the sphere zoomed across the grass, allowing them to see as many dinosaurs as they could. It felt a little thrilling, to still be on the ride when they'd been told to get off. Zach lived for being rebellious and this was one of the most rebellious things they could be doing. Things seemed to be going well until he noticed something strange in front of them.

There was a huge fence surrounding the area, blocking off the field from the forest, but that wasn't what caught his attention. What caught his attention was the massive hole in said fence. Raising an eyebrow, Zach guided the sphere over to said hole and stopped just short of the fence. The hole was big enough for one of the spheres to fit through.

"What happened here?" he muttered.

"We should go back." Gray said, a matter of factly.

"But dude," Zach said.  _"Off road._ "

Gray shook his head. "No, let's go back."

Zach smirked at him, lifting a finger to his lips and he proceeded to drive through the hole. They were lead into a huge forest with a thick canopy of trees above them. It was just like any other forest, if any other forest had ambient dinosaurs sounds to it. It was, to say the least, amazing. Zach didn't even care that Gray was panicking in the seat next to him, this was by far the coolest thing they'd done all day.

The forest was thick and dense, and  _very_ green. It was probably because of their location in the world but it was definitely nicer than any place back home. It was much better than the designated area for the spheres. Why weren't they allowed to roam out here? It wasn't as if they allowed any dangerous dinosaurs to walk around here, Gray had informed him most of the dinosaurs around here were herbivores because having people this close to humans would be reckless.

Beside him, Zach could see Gray silently freaking out. He'd forgotten Gray was the more responsible one out of them but he all he wanted to do was try and cheer his brother up. He wanted to take Gray's mind off of their previous conversation and what better way to do that then bring him as close as he could to being face to face with one of his favourite things in the entire word? There wasn't anything wrong with that, in his eyes. Of course, this proved futile when Gray spoke up.

"We should definitely turn back now." Gray said.

"Dude -"

"No, we'll get arrested and they'll shave our heads and we'll have to make root beer in the toilet!" Gray exclaimed.

Zach frowned. Where had Gray even heard that? "What?"

"Zach," Gray started.

"Gray," Zach said. "Who else will be able to say that they managed to get this close to an actual dinosaur?"

"No one!" Gray said. "Because we  _shouldn't_  be this close!"

"Oh shut up." Zach rolled his eyes.

He took a sharp turn into a small opening and brought the sphere to a stop when he noticed four dinosaurs in front of him. He didn't know what kind they were, since he didn't care, but it was good enough. Gray would be impressed with it. Hopefully. The four of them were milling around, eating the grass and it reminded Zach of a pack of dogs. Could you compare a dinosaur to a dog?

"See I told you. You're welcome." he said. "Up close and personal with four dinosauruses."

Gray was looking ahead at the dinosaurs or, something just past them, apparently. Weren't these dinosaurs good enough for him? Zach was starting to regret trying to do something nice for him for a chance.

"Ankylosaurus." Gray said. "We shouldn't be here. And there's five dinosaurs."

Zach frowned then. Was Gray losing it? There was four dinosaurs in front of them with weird, ball shaped, tails. Where did he see a fifth?

"Aren't you supposed to be a genius or something?" Zach scoffed. "Look, one, two, three four,"

Gray, who had started to tremble beside him, lifted his hand and pointed to something reflecting in the glass of the sphere. Zach frowned when he saw it and could only make it what looked like a snout. A snout with  _very_  large teeth.  _Holy shit._

"Five."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Zach and Gray face death head on and Claire finally tells the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does saying I'm sorry make up for the long wait for an update? Because I really am sorry that this took so long. I kind of had the worst case of writer's block for such a long time and then I lost muse for this fic. It was terrible, really. I only managed to find my muse for this because I binge watched Parks and Recreation for a couple of days and refound my life for Chris Pratt. So, here we are with an update. I really hope people are still interested in this fic lmao.

They were staring death in the face. _Literally._

Zach had never thought that, in his entire sixteen years of life, he would be sitting in a glass ball with a dinosaur behind him. In fact, if anyone found themselves in his current situation, they'd most likely believe it was a dream and that in a few moments, they'd wake up and go about their day as normal.

Zach knew, for a fact, that this wasn't a dream and he wasn't about to wake up.

Both he and Gray turned around to look at the beast just as it began to rise to it's full height. It blocked out the sun which would have left them squinting had it not. For a moment, nothing happened and all they did was look up at the dinosaur that was unlike anything either of them had seen. It wasn't a T-Rex, although it did look like one. If the situation were different, Gray might have been able to answer Zach's questions but it wasn't.

The dinosaur opened it's huge maw, revealing razor sharp teeth, before it let out a huge roar. It was unlike anything either of the brother's had heard before and it startled them both into moving. They turned around at the same time and Zach felt Gray grasp at his arm.

"Go, go, go!" The younger Mitchell screamed.

"Shit!" Zach bit out as he grabbed the joystick of the Gyrosphere and kicked it into motion.

And maybe they could have been safe, maybe they could have gotten away and found their way back to a safe area. But, as it turns out, the world didn't work that way. Really, Zach should have known better than to assume that they would have been able to make an easy getaway.

The dinosaur came after them, obviously guessing that they would have made a good meal – or something worse – and as Zach manoeuvred through the grassy fields, the foot of the large beast behind them kicked their sphere, as if they were nothing but a soccer ball, and sent them racing forward. As they moved forward, at an alarming speed, the Ankylosauruses at their sides, smacked into them, sending them shifting from side to side as if they were nothing but a ball in a pinball machine. Beside him, Zach could hear Gray screaming and, almost instinctively, he lifted his hand just in time to feel Gray grab it. The gesture was seeking comfort, safety, that Zach couldn't provide in that moment.

"Hold it together man!" Zach said, his voice just managed to be louder than the chaos around him. Whether or not he was talking to Gray or himself was a mystery.

By the time their sphere came rolling to a stop, Zach realised that he'd begun to hold onto Gray the same way his brother held onto him. He'd have been embarrassed had the situation not been that of life and death. Once he managed to regain his senses and survey their surroundings, Zach saw an Ankylosaurus roaring towards the other dinosaur. They were going to fight, that much was clear. Zach, however, was instantly able to tell that the much smaller dinosaur wasn't in a good position. He was caught in the moment, his heart thumping in his chest, and he almost felt bad for the Ankylosaurus.

"Drive! Drive! Go!" Gray's voice broke through his stupor just as the dinosaurs charged at each other.

Zach, once again, grabbed the joystick and forced the sphere forward. Seconds after he did, however, the universe took another dump on them and all Zach could do was watch, in hidden terror, as the large tail of the Ankylosaurus smacked into the front of their sphere. He lifted an arm to shield his face, a natural instinct really, but the glass didn't shatter. Instead, they flew backwards, hitting a tree and, to both of their horrors, spun around until they were upside down.

Zach instantly remembered the safety video they had watched when they first boarded the sphere. It had said, in an unfunny comedic manner, how the spheres were designed to stay upright. In that moment, Zach wanted to say a massive _fuck you_ to whoever had came up with that. If they could see what their precious sphere had done now.

As they came to a complete stop, Zach messed around with the joystick, trying everything in his limited power to turn them around and get them to safety. Them, however, was a relative term. Them included both himself and Gray when all Zach could focus on was getting his brother to safety. Feelings of inadequacy, feelings of not fitting in, were completely wiped from his head in that moment and all he could focus on was getting his brother away from whatever this dinosaur was.

He quickly glanced at Gray when he realised that they were stuck upside down. There was, really, no way out of this. This really wasn't the way he imagined himself dying. It was interesting and people would read the obituary in the paper and be shocked. The theme park would probably get closed down, just like the first one that was never really opened in the first place. Zach really didn't want to die like this. Zach really didn't want Gray to die like this.

In a move he knew would give him nightmares should he survive, he looked over to the dinosaurs who were mid fight. Just as he suspected, the smaller dinosaur didn't stand a chance and it only took a few blows for it to be defeated. That didn't stop the larger dinosaur from crushing it's head in it's huge jaws. Zach felt sick as he watched it happen. The whimper he heard come from his brother made him feel even worse.

This was his fault. They wouldn't have been out here if he hadn't suggested it. There was probably a place in hell specially reserved for him right now. Great.

"We're safe in here, right?" Gray asked. His voice was timid, the fear evident.

"Yeah," Zach cursed at how scared he sounded. "Totally safe."

Once again, the universe decided that today wasn't his day and Zach heard the sound of vibrating against glass. He looked down – or maybe it was up now? - and saw that it was his phone. It was their Aunt Claire calling. Just what he needed right now. The phone wasn't too far away and Zach knew that he could probably reach it if he tried. So, using the hand that was gripping onto the sphere, he reached down and attempted to get his phone. His fingers just brushed the screen as his arm wasn't long enough. _Stupid genetics._

He groaned as he tried to stretched down further, the phone was almost in his grasp, they could almost get out of this.

"Zach," Gray said, the fear in his voice now much more evident.

"I've almost got it." he said, in return.

"Zach!" Gray repeated.

"Yeah?"

"Look."

Zach promptly abandoned his desperate reach for the phone and looked up, only to see the large amber eye of the dinosaur staring at them. It was almost as if the dinosaur found joy in watching them. Zach could only assume it – it was probably a she – was eyeing up her next meal. He _really_ didn't want to be killed by a dinosaur.

It only got worse when the white beast rose to her full height, moving around them and turning the sphere as if it were a ball. Zach could feel his breath hitch with each passing second but he did a much better job at hiding his terror than Gray did. Not as if it were a competition because Zach knew he was just as scared as Gray.

To prove his point, the dinosaur slammed her massive claw into the glass of the sphere and without much struggle, she broke through it. The claw was sharp and glistening slightly with the blood of the Ankylosaurus. Zach wasn't quite sure when it had happened, but he could feel his hand press over Gray in a vain attempt to keep him safe. He knew that when the dinosaur attacked, there was really nothing he could do to keep either of them from harm.

Just as he assumed, the Dinosaur opened her mouth and slammed her teeth into the sphere. He could hear screaming but he wasn't sure if it was just Gray or if he was screaming too. He'd abandoned all hopes of the sphere keeping them safe and when he heard the glass shatter once more, that abandonment was only further supported. The dinosaur began to lift them into the air before she slammed them down onto the ground. Again, Zach heard glass shatter and, almost by magic, found a way out of all of this.

The second time the dinosaur slammed them against the ground, it opened up an exit for them. Gray was still screaming beside him but it didn't matter. As the dinosaur lifted once more, Zach fumbled with each of their seatbelts until he got them loose. They slid out of the sphere at the same time and landed on the ground with a thud. There was no way they would be able to make a grand escape in that moment, so Zach grabbed Gray and shielded him with his own body as the sphere came down around them once more.

As soon as the dinosaur lifted it again, to throw it away, Zach pulled Gray up and shoved him, his actions followed by a frantic shout of the word _go_ a few times. They both took off running almost instantly. Gray was a lot faster than he was but Zach managed to keep up as they broke away from the forest and ran out into a field. Their escape was followed by a loud roar, which acted as a way to urge them to run faster.

They kept running and Zach risked a look over his shoulder to see that the dinosaur was falling them. She was relentless and Zach remembered, vividly, what she'd done to the Ankylosaurus. They wouldn't end up like that. He was going to make sure of it. So he urge Gray forward, he urged himself forward and they ran as fast as they could. Zach ignored the burn in his legs caused by their sprint but it would pay off when they got to safety.

They really had no destination. Zach had no idea where they would even go but as soon as he heard the rush of water, it made a lot more sense. He pushed Gray in the direction of the water and soon enough they came to a stop in front of a large waterfall. There was really no way to gauge how far below them the water was and, at this point, it really didn't matter. It was their only way to safety and Zach wasn't about to get his brother killed all because he was scared of a jump.

"We're gonna have to jump." he said, voice frantic.

"I can't!" Gray responded, shaking his head.

"Are you ready?" Zach asked, not caring for what Gray had to say in that moment.

"I can't!" Gray repeated.

The large footsteps of the dinosaur alerted Zach to the fact that she was close and getting closer every moment they wasted. He began to count out loud, his plan to jump when they got to three but there was no way that was going to happen. They'd wasted too much time as it was, so as soon as he got to two and the dinosaur was just behind him, he grabbed Gray's arm and forced his brother to jump. Because of that, he was able to block out his own fear that came with the jump.

The air rushed past them as they fell however long the fall was and hit the water beneath them. It would have hurt had the adrenaline not kicked in beforehand. They sunk down deep and Zach knew they had to stay under the water until the dinosaur, whose roar of anguish could be heard even with them underwater, walked away. He grabbed Gray's arm and stopped his brother from surfacing for a moment.

But then, it dawned on him what had happened. They'd just survived a near death experience and even if they were stuck in the middle of a forest with a huge dinosaur, they'd managed to get away. They were safe for now. And that was all that was on Zach's mind as he and Gray broke the surface of the water and made their way over to the nearest muddy bank, climbing out of the water.

Everything Zach had been fretting over earlier was long forgotten for now as he and Gray paused to catch their breaths. They were okay. They were _alive_.

* * *

Owen had gone down to the visitor centre to help the other employees guide the visitors to safety. There wasn't much else he could do in that moment. He'd tried to get the people in the control room to take out the dinosaur after she had cruelly disposed of the ACU they had sent out. The screams of the unit would forever be ingrained in his mind. The way the had been cut down so quickly wouldn't let Owen sleep at night in the future.

Owen knew better than anyone else that this job came with certain risks but who comes to work in the morning and is prepared to die? Even when he was in the NAVY, that had never been a fear of his.

Standing there in the middle of the visitors centre, Owen felt particularly useless. The guests had no idea what was happening and it was hard to control such a large crowd. Owen was used to controlling his raptors but they were nothing compared to people. Humans were a lot more different than raptors and Owen guessed that that was why his relationship with Claire hadn't worked out. They both needed and wanted different things from the other.

That wasn't saying he didn't still have feelings for her, because there would always be something there, something he didn't want to let go of. Maybe, one day in the future, he would come to accept that they were done but it didn't seem as if today was that day. He spotted Claire long before she spotted him. She was unmistakable, with her red hair and white clothes, in the crowd. He narrowed his eyes when he saw the panicked look on her face however, and made his way over to where she was.

"Claire?" he asked, loud enough for her to hear.

She seemed to be relatively relieved when she heard him and then saw him. She came over to him, her hand gently resting against his arm. It was a soft touch that left Owen feeling slightly off.

"I need you." she said.

The confession was a surprise, to say the least, and all he could reply with was a stunned " _Okay._ "

He lead her away from the bulk of the crowd until they were somewhere where they could talk without someone else hearing them.

"What's up?" he asked.

"My – My nephews are out in the – the valley." Claire said. "I – I tried to get ACU to go get them but -"

"Wow, hey, calm down." Owen nodded. "What age are they?"

"The younger one is, um... _young_." Claire shook her head. "The older one is six – he's a teenager."

Owen narrowed his eyes. Her words seemed rushed and out of place. Why had she changed her mind about telling him the age of her oldest nephew?

"You don't know how old your nephews are?" he asked.

"Of course I do!" Claire snapped. "Gray is eleven and Zach is sixteen."

Owen raised an eyebrow. "Why wouldn't you just tell me that then?"

Claire huffed out a breath and put her hands on her hips. "If you're going to be difficult, I'll find someone else to help me."

"I'm not being difficult." Owen said, with a shrug. "I'll help you find them, okay?"

Claire nodded, a look of visible relief on her face. Owen guided her away from the crowd then, his hand on the small of her back as they made their way through the crowd and towards one of the employee entrances. He opened the door for her and they made their way down various corridors and past various rooms – labs, mostly – until they reached the garage. Along the way, Owen had picked up a rifle and the keys to one of the jeeps.

Once in the garage, he went over to the jeep and got in, shortly followed by Claire. He kicked the jeep into gear and pulled out of the garage, making his way towards the Gyroshphere ride as quickly as he could. As he did, he heard Claire beg for someone to pick up their phone and he glanced to her. She had her own phone clutched tightly in her hand and pressed to her ear as she tried to get through to her nephews. He narrowed his eyes as he watched her before returning them to the road.

"Great." He heard her say. "He won't answer his phone. Typical teenager."

"Maybe he didn't hear it?" Owen offered. He didn't believe that but he wanted to give Claire some peace of mind.

"He'd have heard it." Claire said. "My sister said he's always on his damn phone."

Owen raised his eyebrow. "His mom?"

Claire hesitated and Owen looked over at her just in time to see the sadness enter her eyes. They almost looked hollow. Owen had no idea why that was.

"Yeah," she said, her voice quiet. "His mom."

"Are you okay?" Owen asked, his eyes now back on the road.

"Today's just been... screwed up." Claire said. "I never asked for this to happen."

"No one does." Owen said. "A giant mutant dinosaur running around isn't exactly something people want."

"Not that." Claire said. She sounded subdued.

"What?" Owen asked. "What do you mean then?"

"I didn't want my nephews to come here." she said. "There's a reason as to why I don't visit them often."

"Because you're a shit aunt?" Owen offered.

"I wish." Claire said, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "But no, it's a lot worse than that."

"What could be worse than being a bad relative?" Owen asked.

"I'm his -"

Claire cut herself off when they entered the Gyrosphere valley. She leaned forward in her seat and looked around for any sign of life. The valley was completely void of dinosaurs and she couldn't see the one rogue sphere.

"Where are they?" she asked.

"The forest." Owen said. "See that busted fence?"

"Uh huh."

"They went through there." Owen said and he drove in that direction.

"How do you know that?" Claire asked.

"Believe it or not," Owen said. "I was once a teenage boy. We seek adventure, thrills."

"Is that so?" Claire asked. "Were you a nightmare for your mother?"

"Maybe." Owen said. "A mother's love can't be tested, however. It's unconditional."

Claire stared blankly at the grass in front of them. "Really?"

"Yeah," Owen nodded. "I don't know that for sure, I don't have kids."

"You have the raptors." Claire said.

"I'm not a mother, however." Owen said.

Claire almost admitted the truth then, she almost spilled her sixteen year old secret, when they rounded a corner and came upon another field. Her mouth fell open when she saw the sight in front of them. It looked like a massacre had taken place. Owen brought the car to a halt and cut off the engine.

"Stay in the car." he said before he got out.

Claire watched him as he made his way over to one of the fallen dinosaur. She'd never been this close to one of them without having some cage or glass barrier keeping her safe. So, it was only an natural instinct to get out of the car and follow Owen towards the injured Apatosaurus. She reached them just in time to see Owen gently brush his hand over the neck of the dinosaur. He was speaking to it softly and all Claire could see was a father addressing his upset child. She felt a pang in her chest and gently got down in front of Owen, her eyes welling up with tears and she reached out to touch the dinosaur too.

She looked up and met Owen's eyes. He was looking at her softly and she felt a tear fall. And maybe she was crying over the dinosaur but she was crying over so much more than that. She was crying over the family she could have had, she was crying over missing out on most of her son's life, she was crying over everything she had lost in her stubbornness. She was crying over both her loss of Zach and Owen. It was weird, really.

She gasped softly as the Apatosaurus lifted it's head, rearing in her direction and she felt a familiar motherly pulled towards it. She'd never actually gotten the chance to be a mother and yet the instinct was still there. It had always been there. As the dinosaur dropped it's head back onto the grass, it gave out a few more shuddered breaths before it took it's last. Claire felt her heart break for more than one reason then.

Claire was still by the dinosaurs side as Owen got to his feet and walked further down the field. All Claire could do was watch the now gone Apatosaurus before she looked up and eventually followed Owen. To her horror, she saw more Apatosauruses but they had been slain. She gasped before covering her mouth with her hands. It was a dreadful sight.

"She didn't eat them." Owen said, shaking his head. Claire wasn't sure why he cared until he spoke again. "Sje's killing for sport."

"What do we do?" Claire said.

"We find your nephews." Owen said. "And then we have to evacuate the island. She'll kill everyone here."

"You think we'll find them?"

"We have to." Owen said.

Claire looked at him and he looked back at her. Their eyes met and there was a moment of electricity before they both headed back to the jeep. They were both silent as they got into the vehicle and, once again, Claire found herself looking at the Apatosaurus. It didn't feel right just leaving it there but she didn't have a choice. Owen started the jeep and took off in the direction they had been going in before their unplanned stop.

The car was silent as they continued to drive, heading into the forest. Claire's mind was racing. This had gotten way out of control and there was nothing she could do to salvage it. She felt nauseous.

"How are you feeling?" Owen asked.

"How often does that happen?" Claire asked.

"Every once in a while." Owen said. "It's part of nature."

"It feels horrible." Claire said.

"It's just what happens." Owen said. "It has to happen."

"Why would she do that?" Claire asked.

"She's hunting." Owen said. "That's it, really. She's finding new surroundings, seeing things she hasn't seen before. It's one giant playground for her."

"This is all my fault." Claire said.

"No, it's not." Owen said.

"If I hadn't been so eager to boost the park's guest count, then she wouldn't have been made." Claire said. "If I hadn't allowed you to go into her enclosure, then this wouldn't have happened."

"Everyone blames themselves." Owen said. "But it's not your fault."

Not in the mood to fight him, Claire crossed her arms and kept quiet as they travelled deeper into the forest. It should only be a matter of time before they found Zach and Gray. Claire wasn't sure what she would do when she found them. What was she supposed to do?

"Oh no."

Claire looked to Owen when she heard his voice before she turned her direction to in front of her. To her absolute horror, she saw what was left of a Gyrosphere. The nausea returned tenfold as Owen pulled to a stop. She got out without thinking and practically ran over to the wrecked sphere as fast as her heels would allow her.

"No," she gasped out. "No, no, no."

She dropped to her knees when she spotted Zach's phone on the ground. Her heart felt like it was being torn in two then. She'd seen what the Indominus had done to the Apatosaurus. Zach and Gray didn't stand a chance against a beast like her.

"They're alive." Owen said.

Claire looked up at him. "How can you tell?"

"They left tracks." Owen said, pointing to just beside her.

Claire looked and, sure enough, she saw two sets of footprints. Relief flooded her but now wasn't the time to celebrate. Just because they had gotten away didn't mean they were safe. They could have any kinds of injuries, the Indominus could still be after them.

"Can you find them?" Claire asked.

"We can follow their tracks, yeah." Owen nodded.

Claire got up, pocketing Zach's phone, and nodded too. "Lead the way."

Owen looked at her before he started walking, following the footprints. As they walked, Claire kept darting her gaze around, attempting to find any sign of the boys. It was because of this constantly looking around that she soon realised they had left the forest and where headed down yet another field. She kept close to Owen, following his every footstep until they reached a large drop. It was a waterfall that she would have stopped to admire any other time but now wasn't the time for appreciating the scenery. She couldn't see any other way around the waterfall and it slowly dawned on her what had happened, what Zach and Gray had done.

"Oh my god, they jumped." she said.

"Brave kids." Owen said.

"Zach! Gray!" Claire yelled out, over the sound of the rushing water.

"Sh, sh!" Owen hissed.

"Hey, I'm not one of your damn animals." Claire scoffed.

"Those kids are still alive but you and I won't be if you continue to scream." Owen explained. "Got it?"

"So," Claire said, speaking slightly quieter then. "You can track their scent? Follow their footprints?"

Owen looked at her like she'd just grown an extra head. "I was with the NAVY, not the Navajo!"

"What should we do then?" Claire asked.

"You go back," Owen said. "I'll find them."

"No." Claire shook her head. "That's not an option."

"You'll last two minutes in there." Owen said. "Less in those ridiculous shoes."

Claire stared at him, the fury in her eyes unmistakable. She worked quickly then, throwing off her belt and modifying her outfit so it looked like she was ready to explore the forest. She didn't, however, take off her heels. They were going to stay. Again, Owen looked at her like she was crazy.

"Okay." he said. "What was that?"

"I'm ready." she said. "Let's go."

"Huh." Owen nodded. "It's still a no."

Claire felt her reserve break then. She wasn't going to let Owen go off alone to find her nephews, to find her _son_. They didn't know each other plus, Owen was just putting himself in danger by opting to go alone. Didn't these kinds of missions work better with two people? He should have known that. Despite that, Claire knew that convincing him would take too much time and that every moment they wasted fighting about this was another moment that could put Zach and Gray in more danger. There was only one way to get Owen to allow her to go along and that was by telling the truth.

"He's my son."

Owen looked at her, eyes narrowed. "What?"

"He's not my nephew." Claire said. "He's my son."

As Owen continued to look at her, probably trying to find a tell that it was a lie, Claire realised that it felt good to have that off of her chest. She had kept it a secret for so long that to finally say it out loud was a relief.

"Are you saying you have a son?" Owen asked.

Claire nodded. "Yeah. That's why I didn't want them to come here. My sister sent them here, hoping I would tell him the truth and I couldn't even face him. I dumped them off with my assistant and now they're out here, lost. They could die and he'll never know the truth."

Owen nodded as she spoke, taking everything in. Claire hoped he would believe her otherwise this was going to be awkward. He continued to look at her for a few moments before he spoke again.

"It's the eleven year old, right?" Owen asked.

His words surprised her. That meant he believed her. She didn't think he would have but he did. Of course he did. His belief, however, that her son was Gray meant she was going to tell him the very thing that she was ashamed of; that she'd been a teen mother.

"No." she said. "It's the sixteen year old."

Owen looked at her for a moment, taking in her vulnerability before he nodded, shrugging his rifle onto his shoulder.

"Let's go find your boy."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which everyone is finally reunited and Owen surprises Claire.

As it turns out, jumping into water as a method to escape a rampaging dinosaur has it's consequences. Zach really didn't have the time to consider these consequences when they took the leap but now that they were sitting in the middle of tall grass, wringing out whatever water they could from their clothing, he realised that they were extremely lucky for the Costa Rica heat otherwise they would have been in even more trouble.

Gray hadn't said a word to him since they got out of the water and there was really nothing to say to each other. Zach could feel his adrenaline wear off as the minutes passed. He did wonder how long it'd been since they'd arrived at the park – an hour, maybe two – and found that when he went to search for his phone, that it was gone. It'd been a natural reflex, really. It was probably back where the ruined sphere was and even if he had had it on him, the water damage would have ruined it.

"What do we do now?" Gray asked.

"I don't know." Zach said. "We find a way back to the park. Find Aunt Claire and then... she can figure it out from there."

"You think she'll be looking for us?" Gray asked.

Zach stared blankly at the mud in front of them. He didn't want to think about that. "Maybe. I don't know."

"Do you know how to get back to the park?" Gray asked.

"No." Zach said.

"Well, from what I can remember," Gray said. "The Gyrosphere ride wasn't far from T-Rex Kingdom but we need to take into account the distance we travelled in the Gyrosphere and how much further jumping took us."

Zach sighed, shutting his eyes for a moment. "So, we're far away?"

"Possibly." Gray said.

Zach nodded and looked down at his feet. "I should have stayed home."

Gray looked up at him with wide blue eyes then. "I'm glad you came."

"Even after what just happened?" Zach asked.

"That was a little scary." Gray nodded.

"A little?" Zach asked. "You screamed."

"So did you." Gray pointed out.

Zach glared at Gray before he shook his head, a ghost of a smile on his lips. He looked away from Gray, taking note of their surroundings.

"You reminded me of Aunt Claire just then." Gray said.

Whatever facial expression he had on fell away as Zach turned back to look at Gray. He was suddenly reminded of the pit in his stomach – you know, the one a giant dinosaur hadn't caused. He looked at his brother for what seemed like a while before he spoke.

"What do you mean?"

"You just look like her." Gray shrugged. "You even said earlier that you felt like you looked like her."

"That was -"

"It was your reason for coming here, wasn't it?" Gray asked.

"Gray -"

"As much as I want to believe that you came here because you wanted to spend time with me," Gray said. "That's not the truth."

Zach looked at him, suddenly feeling like Gray knew more than he did. "I just wanted to talk to her, that's all."

"You think she'll help you feel better?" Gray asked.

"I don't -"

"Don't lie to me." Gray said.

Zach remained silent then before he got up, shoving his partially dry hoodie back on.

"C'mon," he said. "We need to get moving."

Gray stayed silent as he got up and together, they began their long, arduous, trek through the forest. Zach had no idea how they were supposed to get through it and find the park once again but if they'd managed to escape a dinosaur then he was sure anything was possible.

The problem was, as they continued to walk, he couldn't help but think about what Gray said and how he had reverted back to feeling inadequate in his own skin. Growing up, he'd never thought about whether or not he'd been sure of who he was but now that he was older, now that he was more intuitive, he was picking up on things that made a lot more sense while they made everything else that bit more complicated.

The obvious one was looking more like his Aunt Claire than anyone else in his family – maybe it could be written off because she was his mother's sister but it felt deeper than that. The second thing was how desperate his mother had been to get him to talk to his Aunt Claire. Each time she was brought up in conversation, Karen had suggested he call her or text her and get to know her. He never did but he was beginning to regret that decision. The third, and more blatantly obvious thing, was the way his parents treated him.

While Karen and Scott treated Gray like their son – which he was, after all – there had always been something off about the way they approached him. His father had always favoured Gray over Zach and he'd made that abundantly clear on many occasions. Zach could claim that he wasn't bothered by this but the truth was that he was and always would be. His mother always seemed to treat him with kid gloves, as if anything she said or did would cause an unrepairable crack to appear. In fact, she acted more like a distant relative than a mother.

There was too many questions Zach had and he wasn't being given enough answers.

He was brought out from the deep recesses of his mind when he saw Gray move ahead of him to inspect something. Matching his pace to Gray's, Zach made his way over to his brother and saw what the younger boy was holding in his hands. It was a helmet that must have been a clean white at some point but now it was dirtied with mud and... blood. There was a huge crack down one side of it. Despite all of that, the Jurassic World logo remained partially unscathed.

This seemed to cause Gray a reasonable amount of panic and his breaths hitched as Zach took the helmet from him. Distant sounds of dinosaurs filled the silent air along with Gray's panicked breaths and Zach looked around, making sure that there was no immediate danger. He wasn't about to put Gray in a situation were he could get hurt again. He'd already made that mistake.

Zach dropped the helmet back onto the ground as he turned back to the direction they'd been walking in and took sight of the wrecked jeep that was in front of them. Sparks flew off from the engine as it lay against a few trees. It must have been collateral damage within another fight against the dinosaur that had attacked them. In all of the commotion that had been happening, Zach hadn't even thought to ask Gray if he knew the breed.

"Stay here." he said to Gray, shoving his brother back slightly.

As he began to walk towards the jeep, he felt Gray grasp at his hand before he settling on clutching onto his arm. Zach didn't see the point in fighting it, he knew that Gray was scared and deep down, he knew he was scared too. They walked over to the jeep and Zach looked over the vehicle, taking in the damage and the bloodied seats. And really, he shouldn't have been too surprised at the damage, it was a dinosaur that was causing all of this, yet he still was.

Gray was still taking in the state of the vehicle as Zach began to look around for any signs of life – whether it was human or animal – before his gaze settled on what appeared to be a set of doors a few yards in front of them. It seemed to be part of a building that had slowly become one with nature. Zach abandoned his place at the jeep and slowly made his way towards the building, Gray trailing along behind him. Zach certainly hadn't taken any time to look into Jurassic World or any of it's predecessors so this whole thing was new to him.

Looking up, he spotted a picture of a T-Rex fossil etched onto the doorway before he turned his focus back onto the doors, shoving one open while Gray tackled the other. Slowly, the brothers entered the building which had been reclaimed by various pieces of nature over the years, turning the inside into nothing but a museum of vines and other bits of foliage. Zach was first to venture further inside, with Gray trailing along a few feet behind him. The place seemed relatively safe and relatively untouched.

Despite it being the middle of the day, the inside of the building was rather dark and it was hard to see much besides the overgrown foliage. Zach kicked over some dirt that littered the floor and caught sight of what seemed to be some type of banner. Using his foot, he shoved more dirt from the banner and saw the world dinosaur printed on a black background. Glancing up, he saw what seemed to be the, hopefully fake, bones of a dinosaur. He could feel Gray's eyes on him as he plucked up one of the bones.

"You still have those matches?" he asked.

Gray nodded quickly and reached into his pouch, pulling out said matches. Zach took them from him and hoped they would still work after their trip in the water. It only took a few moments to make a makeshift torch out of the banner and bone and it was then that they were able to move further into the abandoned building. Zach could only imagine how nice the place must have looked when it belonged to humans and not nature. He even spotted a corridor with walls adorned by various paintings of different dinosaurs. He stopped at the painting of a raptor and brushed his hand over it's head. It looked a lot more cheesier than the new park did.

Leaving behind the dinosaur paintings, Zach continued down the corridor until he reached an open doorway and entered what was beginning to look like a garage. He had no idea what it was Gray was doing but he could hear his brother trailing along behind him as he made his way into the room and spotted two nature reclaimed jeeps. A slight frown creased his lips as he moved over to it and touched the hood.

"1992 Jeep Wrangler Sahara, Sand Beige." Gray said, his eyes glued onto the vehicle.

Zach glanced to him before he looked back at the car. The jeep outside was wrecked but the one in front of them seemed to have more of a chance to get them far away from the forest and closer to safety. Memories of the summer they had spent with their grandparents flooded his mind. Their grandfather had spent the summer teaching them about cars but Zach had been the only one that was interested. Gray was preoccupied with other things and only hung around them because he was constantly attached to Zach's hip at the time.

However, that wasn't the only thing he remembered about that summer. It hadn't been odd at the time, seeing as Zach hadn't paid that much attention, but thinking back on it now made him realise just how weirdly his grandparents had acted around them – around _him_. His grandmother was just like his father and had some odd distaste for him that came from nowhere. Zach wasn't sure what he'd done to deserve that kind of treatment but he didn't bother fighting it – it was a year or two too late now anyway. No point in dragging up the past. Instead, he turned to Gray and spoke.

"You remember when we fixed up Grandpa's old Malibu, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gray answered.

"Alright." Zach said. "We're gonna fix up one of these jeeps. Get back to... civilisation."

"Can we do that?" Gray asked.

"It's not like we have a choice." Zach shrugged.

He turned away from Gray then and moved over to the garage door. He dropped the makeshift torch once he'd gotten rid of the flames – with a little bit of difficulty – and used both hands to pull open the door. It was tricky and the creaking told him just how old this building was before he was finally able to slid it open and let in some natural light.

"We don't have the parts." Gray said, from where he was still perched at one of the jeeps.

"We have the other jeep, the newer one." Zach said. "There's tools here and it shouldn't take too long."

"What about that dinosaur?" Gray asked.

Zach looked at him before he shrugged. "Let's go."

Together they made the trek from the garage, through the building and back out to the wrecked jeep. Zach knew Gray wouldn't be much use besides some basic help but it was better than anything. And, this whole repairing a jeep thing was a great way to keep his mind off of everything that he was thinking about. As soon as they got back to their Aunt Claire, he was going to talk to her. She should have had the answers to some of their family secrets. She would even be able to answer the burning questions in Zach's mind as to why he was beginning to feel more like a stranger to his own family members and more like his entire life was attached to hers, somehow.

When they reached the jeep, Zach propped open the hood and looked over the interior. There was no way they would have been able to take the engine back to the other jeep but some of the other smaller items would be useful. The first thing he went for was the battery, releasing it from it's hold and pulling it out from the jeep. He stopped, however, when he heard the sound of something very large being snapped. He suddenly felt violently ill and the fear was no longer something he could ignore in that moment.

"You think it's out there?" he asked.

Looking back at Gray, he saw just how much more scared he looked and he knew his question hadn't helped. He licked his bottom lip, contemplating what to do next. It didn't matter how he felt, it didn't matter what the truth was and how all of this would end, right now it was his turn to be the big brother he always should have been.

"I mean, I know for a fact that it's not out there." he said. "Alright? We're totally safe."

He then looked back down to the battery in his hands before he turned back to Gray and handed it to him.

"Here, go takes this." he said as he did so.

Gray took it without much hesitation but he did seem slightly confused as to why Zach had done this. Zach looked at him for a few more moments before he spoke once again.

"You're stronger than me."

The statement, once said out loud by him, hit Zach like a truck and he realised that Gray was probably a lot stronger than he would ever be. He wasn't sure if Gray would understand the weight of his words but he didn't want to dwell on that. He had other pressing matters to attend to, like fixing a jeep and getting his brother far away from all of the bullshit that was currently happening.

After collecting a few more things from the wrecked jeep, they headed back into the garage and Zach was beginning to mentally plan out how he was going to fix the jeep. He was trying to figure out what was both the fastest and easiest way to go about fixing the vehicle. The longer they stayed out here meant that they could be found by the dinosaur again at any moment and just because they had gotten away the first time didn't mean it was going to happen a second time.

The garage contained less of a _old building_ smell when they returned to it and that probably had a lot to do with Zach having opened the door before they left. Grabbing one of the tool carts, Zach dumped the items he was carrying onto it before dragging it over to the jeep he'd decided to fix up. He was in his element, really, as he pulled off his hoodie and opened the hood of the jeep, taking in the extent of the damage he was going to have to work on.

"Do you know what to do?" Gray asked.

"Yeah," Zach nodded. "I'll need your help though."

"Okay."

And so they set to work on fixing the jeep and Zach took it piece by piece. He started at one part before he moved onto the next, mentally calculating how much more work he would have to do as he went. After having Gray hover over his shoulder while offering him zero help, Zach instructed him to clear off the various pieces of foliage that covered the vehicle. Zach didn't pay much attention to him as he did that, instead focussing on the job at hand. But just because he wanted to do that didn't mean Gray got the message.

"Do you want to talk?" Gray asked.

"About what?" Zach asked.

"Anything." Gray said. "I find it helps."

"With what?" Zach asked.

"Everything." Gray said. "It makes me feel less scared."

"I think the only thing that'll make me feel less scared is being far away from this island." Zach said, shaking his head.

"I can't believe you just admitted to being scared." Gray said.

"Yeah," Zach nodded. "If you tell anyone, I'll deny it and say you're not my brother."

Gray's face fell a little. "Do you think we are?"

"We're what?" Zach asked.

"Brothers."

Zach stopped what he was doing, his hand tightened around the wrench in his hand so tightly his knuckles turned white. Just because he was having doubts over whether or not he was a part of their family didn't mean Gray got to think like that. He wasn't old enough and really, Zach didn't want to think about what would happen if they weren't brothers. They would always be brothers, right?

"Don't say that." Zach said.

"Is that what you're thinking?" Gray asked.

Zach attempted to go back to focussing on the jeep. "It doesn't matter."

"You are, aren't you?" Gray asked. "It's okay if you are, I think it too, sometimes."

"Why would you think that?" Zach asked.

"We're different." Gray said. "And not in the normal way, there's something weird about it all, don't you think?"

Zach looked at him before he shrugged. "I don't know."

"Maybe one of us is adopted." Gray suggested.

Zach felt his entire body tense up in that moment. He'd never taken that into consideration, he'd never thought he would have been that much of an alien in their family. At the end of the day, he knew that wasn't the case because he _did_ look like their Aunt Claire but the idea of his parents not being his biological parents was starting to make too much sense now that he thought about it. He still retained aspects of his parents, picked up from being with them for sixteen years, but with the way his father treated him to the way his mother never really acted like his mother, it just seemed to be too right.

So, if they weren't his biological parents and he looked like his Aunt Claire, did that mean...?

"Of course, that's not right." Gray said. "Because you would know if you were adopted, I would know. And mom and dad would have told you at this point."

"Yeah," Zach muttered before he cleared his throat. "Alright, turn it over."

Gray looked at him, almost as if he could sense the change in his brother, before he turned the key in the ignition of the jeep. To both Zach's relief and shock, the jeep started without a hitch. He'd done it. He'd finally done something right for once.

"It works!" Gray said.

"Uh huh." Zach said as he shut the hood.

He moved around to the driver's side of the vehicle as Gray scooted over to the passenger's side and he got in. Gray was a flurry of motion as he put his seatbelt on. Zach took in a deep breath, trying to shake any thoughts not relative to getting to safety out of his mind. His mother had always been his mother to him, if it turned out that she wasn't, Zach had no idea what he would do.

"I thought you failed your driver's test." Gray said, bringing him from his thoughts.

Zach forced a smirked. "Only the driving part."

 

* * *

The air of the forest was humid and every little noise was causing Claire's frenzy to increase. Owen hadn't said a word to her since they'd begun their trek through the trees and Claire just knew he was judging her. There was so many names he was probably calling her in his mind – it wouldn't be the first time, Scott was very vocal about her at times. Claire really didn't want to think about the opinion of a man who wore board shorts to their first date but she couldn't help it. No matter how much she tried to focus on finding Zach and Gray, her mind kept drifting back to Owen.

Luckily for her, Owen seemed to sense her frantic thoughts and he spoke up for the first time in a few minutes.

"So, you have a son?" he asked.

Claire didn't realise she had been holding her breath. "Technically."

"There's no technicality about whether or not you have a kid." Owen said.

"Look, if you're going to be an ass, I'm not going to talk to you about it." Claire said.

"I'm not being an ass," Owen said. "I just thought you would have mentioned it to me."

"I don't see why you would think that." Claire said. "We went on one date, that doesn't warrant you some kind of insight to my past."

Owen half smiled. "You think you know a girl and it turns out that she has a son."

"I didn't mean to have a child." Claire said. "It was an accident."

"You think he's an accident?" Owen asked.

Claire sighed. "I didn't mean to end up pregnant. I was a teenager, I was reckless and it just... happened."

"What about his father?" Owen asked.

"He ran off when I told him." Claire said. "He was a few years older than me at the time and he just left."

"Wait, wait," Owen said. "You told me that this kid was your nephew?"

"My sister adopted him after I gave birth to him." Claire said. "She raised him to believe that she was his mother and that I was his aunt."

"Were you ever going to tell him the truth?" Owen asked.

"Ignorance is bliss, right?" Claire asked.

"Not with this kind of thing." Owen said.

Claire shook her head. "Your opinion of me doesn't matter. You can think and say what you want but at the end of the day, it doesn't effect me."

"Is that so?" Owen asked. "Well, it's a good thing that my opinion of you isn't negative then."

Claire stopped in her tracks, looking at Owen as he too stopped to turn to face her. "It's not?"

"No." Owen shook his head. "So, you have a kid. You also printed out an itinerary for our date. I handled the latter, I can handle the former."

Claire couldn't help but smile a little. "You don't think I'm a – a _slut_?"

"Who call you that?" Owen asked.

Claire shifted from foot to foot. "Scott. My sister's husband. The man who raised my son."

"He doesn't know you." Owen said. "He has no right to say those things about you."

Claire's smile grew a little bigger then. She was suddenly reminded of why she had gone on that date with Owen in the first place. She was even considering a second date right there when she heard what sounded like an engine followed by the unmistakable sounds of a car travelling. She frowned before turning her attention to Owen. They both seemed to have the same idea and that was that there was no way that the cause of those sounds couldn't have been anyone but Zach and Gray.

Owen nodded towards her and their moment of bonding was over as they began to run in the direction of the sounds. They kept running until Claire saw the structure of the old park loom over them and it suddenly made sense as to why they had heard a car. The boys must have taken one of the jeeps that had been left here. Claire found herself feeling rather proud of both of them in that moment. It was a rather maternal instinct and Claire realised that she didn't want to push it away.

That was a first.

They ran through the forest, Claire following Owen, until they came across the garage of the old park. The door was wide open and there was only one jeep left within it. Claire remembered there being two the last time someone had checked and she realised that the pride she felt wasn't about to leave her just yet.

"Is this one of theirs?" Owen asked, holding up the hoodie she had seen Zach wearing that morning. She nodded, breathless.

Owen moved again then, heading over to the only jeep that was left, while Claire turned around and looked at the tracks left by the jeeps tires.

"That road goes straight back to the park." she said, knowing that relief would be premature but she couldn't help but be relieved.

Turning around, she saw Owen messing around with the last jeep before he moved away from it, checking the shelves that were in front of it. She half tilted her head to the side, wondering what exactly it was he was doing. She noted that he'd left his rifle propped up against the side of the jeep.

"How did they even get one of these things started?" Owen asked.

She shrugged, just as clueless as he was. He didn't say anything then as he went back to the jeep and began to open up it's hood. Claire didn't bother to say anything about the fact that it would take a ton of work to fix it up and their resources had been exhausted considering the boys had been in here too. She also knew she could offer him little help as she didn't have a clue on how to fix cars. Her father had always tried to teach her but she had never been interested.

Her train of thought was silenced when she heard something that was akin to a loud crash. She gasped and looked to Owen, who was looking directly out of the garage door. Was it the Indominus? If it was, then there was a significant chance that they would become her next target in her dangerous hunt.

As the dust settled around them, Owen motioned to her and Claire went over to him, getting behind him. In her fear, she didn't care that she clung onto Owen's waist like he was the last life ring and she was drowning. Maybe that was actually the case but now wasn't the time to think about that.

There was another crash, that must have been a footstep, and they both got down, backs pressed against the bumper. Claire saw, from the corner of her eye, as Owen leaned over, checking their surroundings as best he could. There was another crash and he moved back, signalling that the Indominus had arrived. Claire could feel the adrenaline in her veins turn to fear quicker than anything she'd ever experienced and she squeezed her eyes shut. She was trembling terribly and it only got worse when she heard the growls and guttural sounds the Indominus was making as she searched for them. She turned her head away from the noise and she could feel the jeep shift at her back. She must have known they were there otherwise she was would have left by now.

An involuntary tear fell as she counted down what could possibly be the last seconds of her life. She didn't want to die here, like this, without ever having told Zach the truth. She'd always been scared of it but it was the one thing that was going to keep her from succumbing to the fear.

Once again, she felt the jeep be disturbed at her back and, slowly, she opened her eyes to find Owen looking at her. The Indominus was slowly leaving the garage until she was fully gone and Claire almost sighed in relief. Owen nodded to her, possibly to tell her that they were good now but Claire didn't believe that. The Indominus wouldn't have given up that easily and her train of thought was proven correct moments later what the roof above them crashed open, followed by a loud roar.

Claire threw her arms over her head to keep herself safe before she looked up and saw the Indominus peering in through a hole she'd made in the roof. Looking to Owen, they both seemed to realise that it was time to get out of there and they got up at the same time. Claire immediately turned and headed down the vine filled corridor of the old building, unsure if Owen was behind her as she heard another crash. The idea of being collateral damage in all of this fuelled her actions as she ran through the old park and headed towards the already open front doors.

Owen was at her side before she could realise it and they began to run through the forest once again. He was faster than her but she managed to keep a good pace up as she got her phone from her pocket. Her main task for coming out here was to find Zach and Gray but she knew it'd help those in the control room if they knew where the Indominus was, considering she'd torn out her tracking implant earlier. It was almost second nature as she found Lowery's number and called him. When he answered, she didn't bother waiting for him to greet her.

"Lowery, we found her. South of the Gryosphere Valley, between the old park and the aviary." she explained, still on the move.

"Wait," Lowery said. "Are you _following_ the dinosaur?"

"Yes. Technically." Claire said. "It's a long story. Just get ACU out here. Real guns this time."

"ACU is airborne." Lowery said. "They took the helicopter."

Claire stopped, confused. "Who's flying it?"

"Masrani." Lowery said. "He took some of the ACU guys up in the air with him."

"Oh no." Claire shook her head, remembering their turbulent flight from that morning. It felt like a life time ago now. "Are they going to the aviary?"

"Yeah, Vivian just told them that's where she is now." Lowery said.

"Dammit." Claire hung up then, not caring for what Lowery had to say after that.

"What is it?" Owen asked, coming over to her.

"We need to get to the aviary now." Claire said.

Owen looked at her but there wasn't room for arguing. Claire took off running again, in the direction of the aviary and Owen followed behind her. The adrenaline was kicking in again and she could barely feel the burn in both her legs and lungs as she and Owen made their way across the forest before they came out in front of the large glass dome that made up the aviary. It wasn't the most popular attraction, mostly because there was no way to ensure people would be safe within it but if that's where the dinosaur was heading, then that's where Claire had to be.

They broke out of the treeline just as the helicopter that carried Masrani and a few ACU men flew past them, heading straight towards the aviary. From where they were, Claire couldn't see the Indominus and she glanced to Owen, who also had his eyes on the helicopter. She was startled back into looking in that direction when she heard the sound of gunfire and she looked over to the trees where she could see someone in the helicopter fire rapidly at a shape within the trees. It was the Indominus and any other time, Claire would have been against using real guns against her but she had no only put the park and it's guests in danger but she had also put Zach and Gray in danger. Claire didn't care if the dinosaur died now.

The gunfire, however, chased the Indominus right into the aviary, which she entered by crashing through the glass. The sound could be heard even from where Claire was standing and her mouth fell open in shock. Hopefully the dinosaurs within the aviary wouldn't take any notice to the exit she had created but there was still the problem of the Indominus being in there. They couldn't afford to lose more dinosaurs. A roar could be heard throughout the aviary followed by smaller ones and to Claire's horror, she saw the air begin to fill with both Pterosaurs and the smaller, Dimorphodons.

Claire knew there was nothing she could do but stand there and watch as more spilled out into the sky and a few attacked the helicopter that was still in the air. It was a terrible sight, watching as multiple of the winged dinosaurs attacked the chopper and sent it spiralling out of control. It got worse as she had to watch it crash through the top of the aviary. She gasped out loud moments before she heard the explosions. All that could be seen from it was the smoke that was now spilling out of the hole created in the top. That smoke was joined by more of the winged dinosaurs. Claire stood there in shock as it slowly dawned on her that the man she had spoken to that morning was now gone.

"The trees," Owen said, quickly, and grabbed her arm. "Go."

They both broke into a run then and made their way back into the trees, doing their best to outrun the dinosaurs that would no doubt kill them if they were caught. They got back into the trees in a matter of seconds where Owen pulled her down to the ground just as one of the dinosaurs flew past their heads. Claire was panting both because of how much she'd ran that day and her fear. She glanced to Owen and they both got up, beginning to run once again.

There was an old path within the forest that Claire knew lead back to the aviary employee area, so they took that and ran faster than they had before. It was only natural that the dinosaurs would head for the main park, given that they'd put everyone there. It was one big feeding area, it made sense as to why the Indominus would go there on her path of destruction.

It took quicker than Claire thought it would have to once again break out of the tree line and enter a more civilised area. She could see a lot of people rushing around, from the ACU to medics to the aviary employees. Some had guns. Some didn't. She didn't get the chance to dwell on it for too long because she heard her phone ring and slowed her run to a stop before picking it up and answering it.

"Hello?" she asked.

"Claire, we spotted the boys on surveillance." Zara said, she sounded just as winded as Claire felt. "They're approaching the west gate. I'm heading there now."

Claire couldn't begin to describe the relief she felt then. They were safe. They were alive. "Okay, stay there." she said. "I'm on my way. Stay with them."

She hung up then and turned around when she heard the sound of an engine revving. She saw Owen on one of the bikes and she made her way over to him.

"Get on." he said, though it was moot considering that was exactly what she was doing.

She climbed onto the back of the bike, her arms securing tightly around his waist. "The west gate. They're at the west gate."

Owen didn't need to be told anymore and he sped off down the road, following a few other vehicles and employees as they headed in that direction too. Claire could see that the air was filled with both the Pterosaurs and the Dimorphodons. It wasn't until they were getting closer to the main park that she could hear the screams of both the park guests and the roars of the winged dinosaurs. She could only imagine the terrors that were happening. She didn't want to witness them, she'd already seen and been through enough for one day.

That, however, wasn't going to stop her from going there and finding the boys. She had been so foolish in not spending time with them. If she'd just been with them, then none of this would have happened. She would have known they were safe from the get go. But had she to be her typical self, didn't she? She decided then, that the first chance she go, that she would tell Zach. After all of this, how could she not?

Soon enough, Owen slowed the bike to a stop and they both got off. Claire saw him take a gun from one of the ACU men and with a shout of her name, she began to follow him down the road and out into the park. And as they ran out from the employee area and into the main board walk, Claire saw just exactly how much commotion was happening. Guests were running in every which way, attempting to find shelter from the winged beasts who were picking up and injuring guests without a second thought. Her heart was pounding in her chest and all she could hear for a few moments was the rush of blood in her ears. She couldn't see Zach or Gray.

She barely realised that she and Owen had split ways until she found a knocked over cart and climbed upon it. It was stupid and reckless to put herself up there, given what was currently happening, but she couldn't see above the chaos while standing on the ground. She could, however, see that Owen had joined a group of ACU who were firing non lethals at the dinosaurs. She then turned her attention back to the guests who were still running.

"Zach! Gray!" she yelled but her voice got lost within the chaos.

She looked in every direction that she could, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boys and her vantage point eventually paid off when she saw them. They were running in her direction but she couldn't see Zara with them. Right now, that wasn't her main concern as she felt the relief course through her ten fold. She'd found them.

"No! Hold your fire!" She heard Owen say to her side. "Hold your -"

Claire turned her head around in his direction when she realised he'd been caught off. Her eyes widened when she saw one of the smaller dinosaurs mid attack. The same protective feeling she had quickly developed over the boys kicked in suddenly and she got off the cart, adrenaline thrumming through her veins as she picked up the gun Owen had dropped in his struggle and smacked the head of the dinosaur with it. In her fury, and need to express some sort of feeling, she repeatedly pressed the trigger, firing a good few amps of tranquillizer into the already subdued beast.

With her heart pounding, she moved to hold the gun in one hand while she used the other to help Owen up. He was looking at her with something odd in his eyes, something she'd never seen before. She put it down to what had just happened and handed him the gun. He took it in one hand without ever taking his eyes off of her. She found herself lost in the green of his eyes for a few moments. She didn't realise his free hand was on her waist until he pulled her close and fit his mouth to hers.

A sort of surprised gasp left her mouth as they kissed and it took a few seconds for her to kiss back. She lifted a hand to touch his face, remembering how good of a kisser he had been on their first date. She found that she liked kissing him.

As they pulled away, she looked at him as he studied her with a creased brow. She guessed the kiss had surprised him too. If they hadn't been in the middle of a chaotic, life or death, situation, she knew she would have kissed him again. That train of thought, however, was stopped when she turned her head in the direction she'd once been looking in and she saw Zach and Gray looking at her – at _them_.

"It's them." she said, not bothering to hide her relief.

She ignored Owen then to run over to them, narrowly missing being hit by the other guests who were fleeing from the chaos that was still going on around them. Claire had forgotten all about that in favour of running over to the boys, the danger momentarily forgotten now that she knew they were alive.

"Oh my god, thank god," she said when she reached them, putting her hands on Gray's shoulders. "What happened? What is this?"

She surveyed them, noticing how distressed they looked – although, they did look better than she did. Claire knew that Karen was going to lose her mind if she ever saw them like this but she'd deal with that later. She removed her hands from Gray and turned to Zach. She didn't think about what she was doing as touched a hand to his cheek, leaving it to rest there.

"Where did you go? Why didn't you come back?" she asked. "I was so worried about you."

Claire could see the flash of emotions in his eyes but as soon as it was there, it was gone. It was an all too familiar thing for her. She knew she did the same thing and almost wanted to laugh at how alike they were.

"Who's that?" Zach asked.

Claire turned around and saw Owen stood a few feet away from them. "We work together."

"Uh huh."

"Hey," Owen said as he came over to them. He looked between Zach and Gray, his gaze settling on the former for maybe too long. "We gotta go."

"Okay." Claire nodded. "Come on."

With her mind still racing from the commotion, Claire lead the boys away from the crowd of people and they followed Owen as they made their way back to the hidden employee corridors. They'd find a way back to the control room from there but right now, Claire could barely focus on that. All she could focus on was the fact that she'd managed to find the boys, that she'd managed to find her _son_ , alive and relatively safe. She wasn't going to let them out of her sight until they got off the island and even then, she wanted to make sure everything else worked out just right.

She wanted to be there for them, for _him_.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Claire finally tells the truth.

The four of them made their way into the employee only area only to find that the chaos carried on in there. There was less panic, however, as the bulk of the attack was still going on outside. Claire wasted no time in getting out her phone, feeling a little bit more relaxed now that Zach and Gray were with her. Naturally, it was Lowery she called as he had always been her go to guy, even before all of this had started.

"Lowery, I'm on my way back to you." she said, keeping a steady pace alongside the other three.

"That's a bad idea." Lowery said and it sounded as if he was trying to be discreet. "The board assigned emergency ops to iNGens private security division."

"What?" Claire demanded. There was no way someone was going to come in here and take control of her park. She had worked too hard for that to happen. "What do you mean?"

"This guy Hoskins is in charge." Lowery explained. "And he has this insane plan to use the raptors to hunt the Indominus."

"What do you mean _use the raptors_?" Claire demanded as she slowed her walk to a stop.

"Son of a bitch." Owen spat from where he was stood next to her.

"You shouldn't say _bitch_." Gray told him.

Claire glanced to him just as another helicopter flew past, above their heads. That wasn't the only thing that caught her attention and she lowered her phone from her ear when she began to hear banging against the door used to allow vehicles within the area. The tension within the air began to grow a lot quicker when she saw that the doors where being forced open.

"Take the kids," Owen said to her. "Get them some place safe."

Claire didn't have the time to protest before the force on the doors began to increase until they burst open and guests poured in. Those already within the area began to scatter and their small group seemed to have the same idea. As they turned and ran, Owen motioned towards a stationed SUV and that became their destination. Claire ran to the passenger side and got in, joined by both the boys and Owen within a few seconds.

Owen kicked the SUV into drive and reversed them away from the bulk of the crowd and the dinosaurs, while Claire pressed her hand against the dashboard, fearing that something would go wrong. Behind them, she could hear Zach and Gray encouraging Owen in a manner that could only be described as frantic. It was almost like all of those times the Dearing family had had when Claire and Karen had been younger. The boys reminded Claire of both herself and Karen. It was a sad, nostalgic feeling. The SUV was parked in a manner of moments and all they could do was sit and watch as guests ran past them.

"This does not feel safe." Zach said.

"Can we stay with you?" Gray asked.

"I am never leaving you," Claire turned to look at Zach. "As long as you live."

"No, no, him." Gray said, pointing to Owen. "Definitely him."

Claire saw Zach point at Owen too but he didn't say anything, almost as if he were simply following in Gray's lead. She also noticed that he hadn't taken his eyes off of her. It was as if he thought the opposite of Gray. That was something and Claire was going to hold onto no matter what happened.

"Kid's have spoken." Owen said with a half shrug.

And honestly, Claire had no room to protest. She had to agree with them as she felt a lot safer around Owen and she didn't blame them for wanting to stay with him. She did to. Her version of it, however, might have been a lot more of an emotional thing rather than a safety thing. _Maybe_.

"Okay." she nodded. "What do we do then?"

"We need to head to the raptor paddock." Owen said. "If what you said is true, then Hoskins is out of his mind."

"Who is this guy?" Claire asked.

"Military guy." Owen said. "He wants to use the raptors in wars, or whatever."

"That's ridiculous." Claire said.

"That's what I've been trying to tell him." Owen said, looking at her.

Claire looked at him too and they met eyes. It was an odd moment that would have been longer had Claire not remembered that they weren't alone together.

"Well, you helped me," she said. "I'll help you now."

Owen nodded. "Let's go."

* * *

 

Night had fallen by the time they reached the raptor paddock. Owen had filled her in on exactly what Hoskins was like and what would possibly happen when they got there. It was clear to her just how much these raptors meant to him and Claire was left feeling a strange sort of need. She wasn't sure if she could describe Owen's feelings towards the raptors as fatherly but that's what she saw. She had glanced to the back seat where Zach and Gray where and had imagined what it would be like if all of this worked out and the three of them became a misshapen family. Or maybe she was just making up an impossible scenario.

The paddock was brightly lit as they arrived, from both the inbuilt lights and the lights from the many vehicles parked around the place. Owen seemed to be on some sort of mission as he pulled the SUV to a stop and got out. Claire watched him as he made his way over to Hoskins before she got out of the car too and was about halfway there when she saw Owen punch Hoskins. Her eyebrows shot up, impressed by the punch.

"Get the hell out of here." Owen said. "And get away from my animals."

"Hoskins, you wanted this to happen," Claire said. "You son of a bitch."

"How many more people need to die before this mission makes sense to you?" Hoskins asked Owen.

"It's not a mission." Barry said as he joined them. "It's a field test."

"This is an iNGen situation now." Hoskins said. "There's gonna be cruise ships here at first light. Everybody's gonna get off this island and you're gonna watch a news story about how you all saved lives. No, better yet, how your animals saved lives."

Owen stared at Hoskins before he turned to Barry.

"They've never been out of containment." Barry said. "It's crazy."

"Owen," Claire said. "You can't do this."

Owen remained silent.

"This is happening," Hoskins said. "With or without you."

Again, Owen remained silent but that seemed to be enough for Hoskins who smirked and turned back to his men, barking out instructions towards them. Barry simply walked away, annoyed by what Owen had essentially agreed to do. Claire, however, remained by his side, looking up at him.

"What?" he asked.

"You know it's too dangerous." Claire said.

"We're far away from any other humans." Owen said. "You heard Hoskins."

"Is the glory all that matters to you?" Claire asked. "Or have you lost your mind in all of this?"

"Maybe I lost it trekking through the forest," Owen said. "To find your kid, who doesn't even know you're his mother."

Claire shook her head. "Did you really just say that to me?"

"Claire -" Owen started.

"Leave it." she said. "Go on your stupid mission. I don't care."

She didn't wait for him to say anything before she walked away, back over to the SUV where the boys still where. She did cast a glance over her should to see Owen walking away, heading towards where iNGen had set up a mock base. She shook her head before going over to Gray's side of the car and pulling the door open.

"What's going on?" Gray asked.

"Owen's lost his mind." Claire said, stepping to the side so they could get out of the car.

"Oh," Gray said. "Can I go see the raptors?"

"Sure." Claire shrugged and Gray darted over to where the raptor cage was. "You can go too, if you want."

Zach mimicked her shrug. "Dinosaurs are Gray's thing, not mine."

"What is your thing then?" Claire asked.

"Music, mostly." Zach said.

"Huh, that's right." Claire nodded. "Karen told me how you always have your headphones on."

"That's just mostly to... block out the noise." Zach shrugged.

Claire lifted a hand and put it on his shoulder. He was taller than she was. "Are you okay?"

Zach looked at her and allowed himself a small moment of weakness. "Not really."

Claire, seeing that weakness, did the one thing she never thought she would, and hugged him. She held him close to her, one hand in his hair while the other rested tightly against his back. To her surprise, he hugged her back.

"We'll figure it out." Claire said.

"I hope so." Zach mumbled.

"Zach!" Gray called out. "Come see this!"

They pulled apart then and Claire nodded to him, giving him the permission he had silently asked for, to go over. Zach scrubbed a hand over his face as he made his way over to Gray, that one small embrace from Claire seemed to have changed everything.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Look at them." Gray said.

Zach did and grimaced slightly. He wasn't sure how Gray could like dinosaurs after what they'd just been through – he really hoped Claire didn't ask about Zara, that was something he wasn't going to forget any time soon. The brothers watched then, as Owen got into the cage and made his way over to one of the raptors. She had a blue stripe down her side, which Zach guessed was just a nice touch from the scientists and not something that was historically accurate.

Owen was lightly touching the raptor, speaking to her, as if she were nothing but a dog. It was interesting, really. Zach, however, couldn't quite focus on that and was actually still caught up on the fact that this guy and Claire were something. He wasn't sure why he felt slightly off about that. He wondered about the feeling that he had had when they were fixing the jeep, how he thought Claire was his... and how things like that usually worked. Was he really _that_ petty?

"Owen," Gray said, catching both Owen and Zach's attention. "Are they safe?"

Owen looked between them and, again, his gaze lingered on Zach for a moment too long. The more he looked at the boy, the more he realised just how much like Claire he was.

"No," he said. "They're not."

"What are their names?" Zach asked.

"Well, you got Charlie, there's Echo, here's Delta," Owen said, pointing to each raptor respectively. "That one's called Blue. She's the beta."

"Who's the alpha?" Gray asked.

"You're looking at him, kid." Owen said.

Zach half smirked and shook his head. Owen sounded like those typical high school jocks Zach had had his fair share of run ins with. It just was slightly different now that it was this guy, who his aunt supposedly was into. That didn't matter. Or it shouldn't have.

"Alpha?" The three of them heard Claire's voice moments before she came to stop next to Gray. "Really?"

Owen shrugged. "It's the truth."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Okay, you two, there's a van over there. I'll be with you in a second."

Zach and Gray looked at her before the former nudged Gray and they both headed over to the veterinary vehicle she had pointed out. Claire watched them go before she turned back to Owen. The guilt in his eyes was unmistakable.

"Don't you have a murderous mission to get back to?" she asked.

Owen sighed. "I get that you're mad at me."

"Mad at you?" Claire asked. "You can't kiss me one minute and then call me out for the way I go about my life the next."

"Hoskins just got to me, okay?" Owen said. "These raptors are like my children."

Claire looked at him. "And I wouldn't understand that?"

"I never said that." Owen said.

Claire looked down and shook her head. "I know that I should have told him. I know it was wrong of me to leave his life and never tell him the truth, and I feel terrible for it everyday. But I expected you, of all people, to get that."

"I get it." Owen said. "And I'm sorry. You didn't deserve what I said to you."

"Mhm." Claire nodded. "And you're not going to mention how what I just said could relate to us?"

"I was thinking that, yeah." Owen said. "You have a penchant for not telling guys the truth."

"Just you and my son." Claire said.

"And you're gonna start now?" Owen asked.

Claire nodded and then smirked. "But not with you."

"Ouch." Owen faked a winced.

Claire smiled at him. "Don't get hurt out there, okay?"

"I won't." Owen said. "Not now that I have something to come back to."

Claire had to look away so her smile wouldn't get any bigger. "You're a tool."

"I know." Owen chuckled.

"I'll see you soon?" Claire asked.

Owen nodded. "Yeah."

Claire let her gaze linger on him for a few moments before she turned and walked away, going over to where she had instructed Zach and Gray to go. When she reached them, she merely smiled at them before turning to the truck. The doors were heavy and she had to heave them open, feeling slightly breathless. It did, however, feel good not to have to run for a change.

What she had said to Owen was now prominent in her mind. She'd said she would change, that she was no longer going to run from the truth and her past. The Indominus was still out there and she had no way of knowing what was going to happen in the near future. If there was a chance she wasn't going to make it to the end, she wanted Zach to know the truth. It was only fair.

"See," When she spoke, she was referring to the inside of the truck. "Totally safe. C'mon, get in there."

She turned back to them and looked between them. It was almost a natural reflex to go against what she had decided to do and as Zach passed her to get in, she caught his arm. The action caught them both off guard and she watched as his brow furrowed.

"We need to talk." she said. Zach stayed silent as he looked back at Gray. "It'll only take a few minutes."

"Sure." Zach said.

"Zach -" Gray said.

"Give me a minute." Zach said to Gray and followed Claire as she began to walk away from the van.

They eventually reached a part of the paddock that was more secluded but still pretty much in the open. Claire was wringing her hands as they stood there. She didn't have much time to do this, as they raptor mission was about to go off at any moment. Despite that, she knew that this was much more important. It was one of the most important things in her entire life.

"Are you gonna say anything?" Zach asked. "Or can I go back to Gray?"

"Has your mother ever said anything to you?" Claire asked.

"About what?" Zach asked.

"You." Claire said. "Me. Us."

"Us?" Zach asked. "Except for constantly asking me to talk to you, no, she hasn't."

Claire sighed and nodded. "There's something I need to tell you."

"Is now the right time?" Zach asked.

"There's no better time." Claire shook her head. "Look, there's something your parents haven't told you. Something that... _I_ haven't told you."

Zach looked at her, head slightly tilted to the side. He looked as if he were trying to figure something out in his head. "What?"

"I don't know how to say this." Claire shut her eyes. "I should have told you sooner."

"Told me what?" Zach asked.

"I'm your mother." Claire said.

Zach looked at her in shock. The turmoil he was showing made Claire's heart break. "What?"

"When I was younger, about your age, I got pregnant." Claire said. "I wasn't old enough to take care of a child and Karen offered to raise you. So, after I gave birth, Karen and Scott adopted you, they raised you to believe that they were your parents and that I was your aunt. And Karen has been trying to get me to tell you for a while now but I just couldn't do it."

Zach was still looking at her but it was no longer in shock. It was just sadness but Claire didn't know what was making him sad. At least he believed her, right?

"Please say something." Claire said.

"I gotta..." he shook his head. He sounded devastated. "I gotta go back to Gray."

"Zach." Claire said but it was too late, he was already walking away.

Zach felt numb as he made his way back to the truck. His whole world had just been thrown upside down. Claire was his mother? That's why he looked like her and why his mother - _Karen_ had constantly pushed them to talk to each other. That answered every single question he had, which meant he had no reason _not_ to believe that it was the truth. In the middle of a dinosaur epidemic really wasn't the best time for him to be thrown into a loop hole like this but that wasn't what was making this hard for him. There was only really one thing he could think about right now that made all of this hurt more than it should have.

He and Gray weren't brothers.

That's all he could think about as he got into the truck, pulling the doors shut behind him before he moved over and sat down next to Gray, who was looking at him expectantly. Zach didn't know what he wanted him to say or what he knew but he could barely find it within himself to look at Gray, much less speak to him.

"What did Aunt Claire want?" Gray asked.

Zach didn't answer him, so they were forced to sit in silence. Zach cursed his inability to speak at that moment because he didn't want to be alone with his thoughts. They scared him more than any dinosaur had or would. Almost as if they wanted to prove him wrong, Zach heard one of the raptors outside and he looked at the closed truck doors. The silence was getting too much then.

"Um," Gray's voice shook. "Nothing's getting in here, right?"

Zach turned his head to look at Gray. He didn't know what he was supposed to do then. His parents weren't really his parents and the woman who had been absent for most of his life was actually his mother. But despite all of that, Gray was no less his brother than he had been when all of this started and Zach would be playing the role of a big brother for the rest of his life, if he had to.

"Hey," he said. "Do you remember that ghost in the old house? Remember, the one in the garage?"

Gray nodded at him, his eyes betraying how scared he was.

"I protected you, right?" Zach nodded too.

"You made a battle axe out of a ruler and paper plate." Gray reminded him.

"Yeah. See, nothing is gonna get you while I'm around, okay?" Zach said.

Gray looked at him, the fear now joined by sadness. "But you're not always gonna be around."

Zach sighed, looking away from Gray for a few moments. He couldn't quit now. It didn't matter what Claire had just told him.

"Hey, we're brothers, okay? We'll always be brothers." Zach said, both to himself and Gray. "And we'll always come back to one another. No matter what."

"No matter what?" Gray asked.

"No matter what." Zach confirmed before leaning forward and resting his forehead against Gray's.

He could pretend it was just to comfort Gray but he knew it was to comfort himself as well.

* * *

 

Claire was shaking as she made her way across the paddock and to the van. She didn't know whether or not Zach's reaction to the news was a good one or a bad one. She felt guilty for putting this on him at this time but she knew it couldn't wait any longer. She had to make sure he knew in case she didn't make it to the end of this. It was a selfish gesture, making sure her own conscious was clear, but it had to be done.

She glanced up when she heard the sounds of engines and watched as Owen, Barry and the rest of the iNGen soldiers made their way from the paddock, raptors in tow. She sighed and slowly removed her ruined shirt before she got into the van and pulled out the tablet, that would allow her to see what the raptors were, onto her lap. This mission was dangerous and everyone in their right mind would have been against it if it weren't one of their last resorts. Even then, Claire didn't like this and believed there was some other way they could subdue the Indominus.

Subdue, however, was a weak word. She really didn't care now whether the dinosaur lived or died. She wanted the thing that had put both her son and her nephew in danger put to rest no matter what method it was done in. She just hoped that Owen and Barry would come out of this unscathed. Knowing that they were risking their lives for this insane mission sickened Claire.

She kept her eyes glued to the screen in front of her, watching as various parts of the forest raced by as the raptors made their way through it. Despite how against this plan she was, she really hoped that it'd work. That, by some miracle, they could bring down the Indominus and all of this would finally be over. It was wishful thinking at it's best.

All Claire wanted to do in that moment was focus on the tablet in front of her, split into four different views for each camera that was attached to a different raptor. She could see the forest rush past the screens as the raptors ran through it and she could even hear the faint sounds of the engines from the various vehicles that accompanied them. It would have been a good thing to help drown her thoughts out with had they not been running rampant. She would have been able to do it had she not heard the window behind her slide open. She felt sick to her stomach as she glanced up at the rearview mirror and saw Zach and Gray looking to the same screen she had been looking at seconds prior. She didn't want to think about what she'd just done, what she'd just told Zach but it seemed that the world was working against her – as if a dinosaur getting loose in the park wasn't any indication of that.

Almost reluctantly, Claire turned her attention back to the screen in front of her and watched what was happening there. It'd been wrong to tell Zach what she had at a time like this but she had no idea if either of them were going to make it to the morning. Naturally, she would have preferred if he did, even if she didn't.

On the screen in front of her, Claire hit the camera that belonged to Echo. She could see Owen on that screen and she had to bite her lip. She was against him doing this for a few reasons. She had only voiced her concern over it not working but her biggest reason had been because of how dangerous this was. Their relationship was complicated and there was a chance he could get hurt or worse during this endeavour. She couldn't afford to lose the one person who could understand her better than anyone else. Her heart was hammering in her chest and, for a moment, it was all she could hear.

"Your boyfriend's a badass." She then heard Zach say from behind her.

Claire couldn't help the smile that graced her lips then. Maybe wishful thinking did pay off after all. She didn't want to risk over stepping what was a huge milestone, in her eyes, but she did so by looking into the rearview mirror once more. Their met eyes and Claire felt short of breath.

She could remember the first time she'd ever seen her son. She'd been just shy of seventeen, she'd just been through a sixteen hour labour, she had been tired, she'd been in pain and she hadn't wanted to even look at him. She knew he wasn't hers to keep but Karen, who had been in the room with her at the time, had convinced her to hold her son, at least once. It was a special moment that Claire knew she would never be able to forget. The problem was, it always resulted in her feeling guilty for tossing him to the side, for keeping him out of her life. She loved him more than she would dare to admit out loud and she didn't realise until then just how important he was to her.

After a few moments, she tore her gaze from the mirror and looked back down at the screen. It seemed that the raptors had caught onto something, causing the whole mission to come to a screeching halt. She could see various INGen soldiers get into formation and, amongst it all, she could see Owen and Barry. Claire was sure her heart wouldn't stop beating at it's alarming pace then. Realising that this mission had every chance at going south, she decided to be a responsible parent for once in her life.

"You know what?" Her mouth was moving faster than her brain could keep up. "No, no, no. You guys are not gonna watch this." She reached up and closed the window, ignoring the boys' protests. "Keep the window closed."

With that done, she turned back to the screen in front of her and watched the proceedings with bated breath. The cameras worn by the raptors pointed towards the darkened tree line and, moments after she turned her attention to it, Claire saw the Indominus loom out of the darkness. It was like watching some sick movie. But it wasn't a movie, it was real life. Her heartbeat picked up quickly then. She couldn't tell what was going on but it didn't seem good. That, however, was just the general description of her day. After a few moments of what seemed to be nothing, she watched as the cameras turned with the raptors movements. Their gazes seemed to settle on the people who had rode out with them. Claire could see Owen clearly in the group and she felt sick to her stomach.

The only problem with being where she was was the fact that she didn't understand what was happening. She could only get one side of it and that side seemed to have triggered heavy gunfire. Her eyes widened in shock as she watched the events happening. It almost didn't seem real, it seemed like one of those crappy horror movies that got played in the early hours of the morning. She wished she could change the channel now.

The screen lit up brighter then as an explosion that she could hear from where she was sat in the van sounded. She had almost forgotten that she was holding her breath until she let out a ragged one, her eyes never leaving the screen. She wasn't sure of what had triggered the gunfire but if she were to hazard a guess, she knew that it would have had something to do with Hoskins. Neither Owen nor Barry would have called out such a response to the Indominus. They knew better but it seemed like they were the only ones who knew anything.

"Oh my god." she breathed out, her voice shaking.

Claire wasn't stupid, she knew that being out there with the raptors and the Indominus would be like sitting on a picking line. And sure enough, she could see that physically play out on the screen in front of her. Cameras went out like lights each time a raptor attacked a soldier. Part of her wanted to stop watching, to turn it off and ignore that this was happening but she couldn't turn away. It was both equal parts pure human curiosity and her need to know if Owen was going to become collateral damage. She didn't want that to happen. That _couldn't_ happen.

Her heart almost stopped altogether when she saw him in one of the raptors' cameras. She didn't know what raptor it was nor did she care. Nothing happened for a few seconds but whatever did happen caused the raptor's camera to go out too. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the raptor had been taken out. Claire wasn't sure how Owen would feel about that but as long as he was still around to feel _something_ about it was all she cared about. Her breaths left her in short panicked bursts and another _oh my god_ left her.

"Is everybody dead?"

She gasped when she heard Gray's voice and she turned around to see that the boys had gone directly against what she had told them to do. She wasn't sure how much they had seen at this point but she quickly tossed the tablet onto the seat next to her before addressing them.

"No. No, no." she said, shaking her head. "Everyone is fine."

"Don't lie to him." Zach said.

Claire hesitated. That felt like a personal attack against her. "He's scared." she said. "It's okay to lie when people are scared."

"I wanna go home." Gray said, his voice small.

"Oh, sweetheart, you will, okay? I promise." Claire reached over and gently touched his shoulder. "Tomorrow you will be home and your mother will never let me see you again."

Claire almost wanted to reflect on what she had said. How would Karen react when you found out what had happened? She would be angry, for sure but Claire had finally done what she'd asked of her by telling Zach the truth. How would she feel then?

Claire didn't get the chance to find the rhetorical answers to her questions when she heard something smack against the side of the vehicle. Turning her heard, she saw a soldier at the window, along with a blood hand print. She couldn't help the scream that left her mouth then. This could only mean one thing. The mission had definitely failed and the raptors where on their way here.

"Get out of here! Go!" The soldier yelled at her but Claire didn't have to be told that.

She grabbed the keys in the ignition and turned them, starting the engine before she slammed her foot on the gas. Over the sound of utter chaos, she could hear screaming and the sounds of raptors growling. It'd been a bust. Hoskins had been so sure that this would work and it hadn't. Her heartbeat still hadn't slowed down and worst of all, she didn't know if Owen had survived this mess.

So much for wishful thinking.


End file.
